The Last Heart
by Myurra-K
Summary: To commit a sin and be able to walk away is a sin in itself. Caleb destroys the one person who could do no wrong. Trapped in an endless circle of lust undermining love and lies spurned from sin, whats left of the covenant is dying. ReidTyler/CalebReid
1. I: Wrong Side Of My Own World

**The Last Heart**  
**MyurraK**

_**From the Ugliest of Crimes comes the most Beautiful and Deadly of them all**_

**Chapter I**  
**Wrong And Right**

**Act I**

Ipswich was a quiet place since Chase disappeared almost a full two months prior. It was drawing closer to the nightly frosts and with it, the cold flakes of late autumn were falling to the hard frozen ground, building silent walls around the people of the small underpopulated town.

With the covenant back to four, Caleb would have thought that things could go back to how they had been before. But with his ascension brought on the seductive power which was slowly luring him into a dark world he'd thought he'd long abandoned.

Caleb, having grown up with both his parents, never found a real need to use as a young teenager. But for some reason, his father started to use, and use.

And use.

Caleb loved his father more than anything else he could comprehend, and as his father used so did he. But his power didn't age him like it did his father. At the age of sixteen, he had been so addicted, and the power had such a hold over him that he lusted for the day of his ascension.

And then he had seen the others using, he had seen Reid leading them into the same world he had been falling into, and something in his mind told him he had to stop, even if it was just for a while. Getting himself back on his own feet was easier than he had thought, and soon his promises to the power faded and he no longer wanted to use but feared it instead.

He wanted his beautiful friends to look like his father about as much as he wanted to himself. So not only did he have to stop, but so did they.

They wouldn't listen at first, and so he took them to the old Danver estate to see where his dying father had been relocated to. They seen, they realised, they understood.

And they stopped.

But Caleb's fear of the power's promises that he had learnt how to get into their heads, he took up the role of being the oldest and most responsible. He became the leader they believed he was. But for some reason, the day he caught Tyler using in class proved to be the ultimate trial for Caleb, and he realised just how paranoid his fear of the power had become and how it was slowly ripping his friends away from him.

He would never forget the day Tyler used in class, though he never understood it entirely.

The other raven was snapping the teacher's chalk from his seat at the back of the classroom a row behind and to the left of Caleb, his eyes black as night hidden beneath bangs of hair. The moment they had walked into the classroom, the teacher had separated Tyler and Reid. A move no teacher had ever attempted before.

Now Caleb knew it was a bad mistake.

At first he let it slide; Tyler was seated at the very back of the classroom, he was the last person anyone could blame and the last person anyone could see using the power he shouldn't even have. But then it started getting worse.

The teacher's shoelaces somehow tied themselves together, the measurements on his board-ruler changed, the projector screen continued to un-roll at the most inconvenient of times, and when the teacher finally started yelling his tie mysteriously tightened so hard it started to choke him.

Caleb had shouted, throwing his book behind him blindly and successfully hitting the other raven warlock in the face with it, and though it hadn't been the intention it managed to break Tyler's eye-contact and possibly save the professor's life.

When asked, he simply said he had felt a spider crawling up his leg and had accidentally lost any rational thought. He claimed he hated spiders and he never meant to break one of his friend's nose with his history textbook. Tyler knew Caleb was lying, so did Reid and Pogue.

As the four boys left the classroom prematurely to get Tyler to the 'infirmary' as they claimed, Caleb knew something was going to happen. It was the first time Reid blew up in his face, and also the same moment that the darkness of the power started to loom in the corners of his vision again.

"Tyler did nothing wrong, you didn't have to break his goddamned nose Caleb!" he growled, not looking at the eldest as he gently covered the youngest teen's cheeks with his hands, trying to get a better look.

"Reid, it's fine. I was getting carried away." Tyler tried to reason, giving a weak smile. Reid closed his eyes, looking away from his best friend.

"No it is not 'fine'! He launched a book at your face and you're saying its 'fine'?" Tyler narrowed his eyes at Reid.

"Let it go. If I could help it I wouldn't have even been using in the first place. I cant do this anymore, I have to stop." the raven stated, trying to walk away. Pogue and Caleb cast one another silent glances when Reid stepped in front of him again.

"What, you're just going to give up too?" he almost spat, folding his arms over his chest. Tyler smiled softly, resting a hand on Reid's shoulder.

"Reid, it will kill us. I can't - We cant keep using like this. I wont…" Tyler continued quieter, only Reid hearing his words. The blonde shook his head, eyes going black and power tingling at the small wound on Tyler's nose. As the raven's broken nose healed, Reid stepped back and allowed his power to recede.

"I don't care what any of you say. I have this power, and I intend to use it. It wont kill me if I use it. But I'm not going to live in fear of it." he sneered, eyes turning between the three of them before he turned toward the dorms, intent on being alone for a while.

Even to the day Caleb still couldn't quite understand that confrontation, but Tyler from then on rarely ever used without prompting from his 'brothers', though there were a few times when Aaron's feet went from under him that Caleb knew weren't caused by Reid, Pogue or himself.

Two years later, the four of them took up a row of seats at the back of the class. Caleb was sitting between Pogue and Tyler, Reid sitting at the end beside the youngest raven. A woman substitute professor was giving the class a lecture about the misconduct of green pens in class. Reid yawned loudly, the woman's chalk snapping between her fingers as she eyed the blonde in distaste before turning to the board.

Tyler's elbow slipped gently against Reid's side, and without knowing that Caleb was watching them the blonde smiled so warmly at Tyler that Caleb's stomach fluttered. He had never see Reid smile like that at anybody, not even his parents. Tyler's eyes went to something around Reid's neck and was about to touch it when the blonde locked eyes with Caleb.

That familiar wall of winter was erected around him and he turned away from not only the eldest but the youngest of his brother's as well, a scowl set on his face and a pen in his hand. The raised plastic where the pen had been printed with the brand grated against the edge of Reid's desk, the sound setting their professor into yet another spur of lectures and threats of detention.

Class ended, and Reid was storming out without even grabbing his books. Caleb watched as Tyler gathered his and Reid's equipment in his arms, using only enough to bring it together faster, before he ran out after Reid calling the boy's name.

Pogue met up with Kate at the entrance to the classroom, saying something about Nickey's to Caleb as he passed her. Caleb realised, with a start, that it was Saturday already. He told them he would be at his unit if they were looking for him before then and headed off to the car lot.

After Chase, they decided that if anyone was to attack them it wasn't going to be at the school. The four of them had bought out half a block of units, one for each of them. They weren't the nicest, most beautiful of Ipswich's real estate, but the investments were surprisingly comfortable. They didn't have to have any roommates, they technically had their own houses and their best friends were literally all around them.

The units were made of old rustic brick, while old stonework turning green with moss and lichens decorated the otherwise bland exterior in carved archways and detailed awnings and alcoves. The windows to the attics of the two-story buildings were stained in varying colours, each to their own. It was the best way to remember whose house was whose.

The block of units was split up into half, four on one side and four on the other. Naturally, the boys bought out one half to themselves, and in the dark of each night for the first few weeks until they were satisfied the boys would make subtle changes to the design of the stonework of the iron gate that separated them from the rest of the units and the world outside.

Each unit had a metal scaffold the real estate agent called a fire-escape that clung to the side of the building with rusting screws and terrified screeching hinges as though hanging on for dear life. The black iron metal, the same colour as the gate that surrounded the block, trembled and cried out as you trod them, the sounds echoing in the night.

They promised not to use the fire escape to get to the second story at night so they wouldn't wake one another. Though Pogue and Kate occasionally broke that promise in the hours that blurred the line between late night and early morning, giggling in drunken stupor and tripping on loose metal until they finally managed to amble into Pogue's bedroom window, they did their best to avoid the contradictory life-threatening safety escape.

Caleb finally arrived at the iron gate, trying his best to shrink into himself as they screamed in old age and lack of grease, swinging open from the familiar surge of power Caleb threw at them demanding entrance. The tarmac ended and on started old greying gravel which crunched under the tyres, and large oak trees and wisteria shrubs that had been cultivated to grow just as solid and high that dangled over the path, dropping dead purple and sickly yellow leaves onto the windshield.

Finally the entrance road widened, circling an old frozen fountain in wide breadth. The four units sat in a semi-circle, the stone pillars and wooden decking stretched around all four in a perfect semi-circle; the only thing that joined both buildings to one another aside from the fire-escape between Tyler and Reid's units due to mistake of design. They never bothered changing it for some reason.

The four narrow buildings stood in succession, the first one closest to the road was Caleb's own. The attic window was blue in colour, the faint automatic light behind it glowing as brightly as the other three. Parking in front of his home, he gave a small non-committal glance in the direction of the opposite end unit; Reid's unit.

Tyler's hummer had been left off the road for legal reasons and he now owned a more expensive car, one of the few luxuries he brought from the Simms mansion. The Ferrari Spider, deep green in colour with black and white seats and a pulled over top sat as innocently as a sports car could beside Reid's deep red maroon coloured Aston Martin luxury car, the roof still down with black seats and surprisingly still as clean and shiny as when the blonde had first bought it.

Pogue had always commented as to how Reid and Tyler got their cars mixed up, insisting that Reid should have been the one who went for the sports car rather than Tyler, who seemed like the kind of person who wanted a car that wouldn't attract quite that much attention.

The full name of each car was too hard to remember, so they was satisfied with just calling it by it's common simple name when they first showed them off. Caleb was moderately surprised as to how Reid had managed to keep his free of scratches and mud, he was a recklessly hedonistic driver after all. It occurred to him that the blonde would just use his power to fix the car should it ever need repairing in such a way.

His eyes went to Reid's front bedroom window on the second story, where he could see Tyler and Reid talking loudly, Tyler obviously a little worked up over something or rather. Reid said something, and the younger brunette gave the blonde a gentle warm smile before ducking away out of sight. When he came back, in his hands he held a video recorder.

That alone was strange, Caleb thought. But it seemed as though Reid was used to this sort of thing as he instantly relaxed and started talking with Tyler, trying to snatch the camcorder half-heartedly.

Caleb, realising he'd been there too long and would be caught eventually, shook his head and entered his own house.

Since Chase left, things had gotten cold and distant between the members of the covenant. And surprisingly, Caleb realised he was fine with this, as he thought the dissipating relationships between them were happening in equality, as though there were some silent prayer of Caleb's hoping it was just them all maturing.

Seeing Reid and Tyler becoming closer rather than further apart was maddening, and once again the power was ebbing away at him like a throbbing headache that wont go away no matter how many painkillers you take. Chase had effected them in reverse, bringing them closer and making them realise who they each were.

Caleb didn't like that.

So for the rest of the afternoon, all the eldest could do was pace around his unit aimlessly in search of an answer as though it would be suspended in the air ready for him to take and consume. It didn't surprise him when night fell and he still hadn't found one.

* * *

**Act II**

When Caleb and Tyler were just children, their parents' estates resided beside one another. It had started when they were but a year old, playing with one another through the woods that both their homes backed up on, where the fence no longer followed through and they had to mind their own way. It took them some time for their mothers to see them together, finding them sitting at the top of the three-foot concrete wall that separated the manors when they were both two years old, the boys completely oblivious to the dangerous heights they had found their way upon.

From then on, the two women made up their differences and took it upon themselves to bring the two Ipswich families together officially. For the first five years of their lives, Tyler and Caleb were best friends. Their mothers had both practically adopted one another's sons as their own, and they even found themselves with their own room in the manor.

The two of them had grown up together, and once they were old enough to begin comprehending just how large the world was outside of their homes and that they were two separate people despite being so close, they knew they were what one would call best friends. They had met another boy at the park once, but they never seen him again for at least two whole years.

For Tyler, it all changed on Caleb's sixth birthday. He and the other boy had been playing in the kitchen, getting under their mothers' feet as usual as the women tried to decorate the birthday cake in straight lines. It turned into a game of tag, and Caleb was running from his younger friend and toward the front door, intent on taking the game outside.

Caleb was spoilt, that was something that Tyler had always known. But the boy rarely ever took anything for granted.

So when the older boy stopped suddenly, his young friend running into him accidentally, Tyler didn't expect to be completely ignored. In front of them stood a woman and a young boy with hair that reached his shoulders, his mother fiddling with his jacket and trying to straighten it presentably.

It was the day that Caleb and Tyler met Pogue.

It was also the day that Tyler was forgotten. An act that directed his fate toward an untimely downfall over a decade later.

Caleb had always admired the beauty in other people and in other objects. He was well aware that he was a beautiful child, but even more aware that his friend Tyler held a different more innocent beauty. One that Caleb thought was his to keep. Everything was his; his parents gave him whatever he wanted and when his mother officially introduced him to Tyler he had thought that Tyler would be his as well.

Such was the thoughts of a child.

But the boy before him was also another pretty child, another socially accepted and adored child. The same one that he and Tyler had met at the park years before and had never had the pleasure of seeing again to that day.

Completely ignoring Tyler, Caleb introduced himself to Pogue and that was the end of it. He was fascinated with the new child, as though he had been given a new toy because he was too attached to an old one. And for eight months, this other boy followed Caleb around much in the way Tyler had.

Tyler felt abandoned; Caleb didn't even come play at his house anymore. And whenever he visited the other boy, though being delighted to see his friend the excitement dimmed slightly as though he were expecting someone else. And after Pogue's birthday, when the only company Tyler had was the Perry's family dog for the whole duration of the party, he realised that he would always be the pretty faced child who was cast away in favour of others more worth their while.

He was the child that many loved to look at, but also the one that many overlooked. With no one around him, Tyler found himself loosing that slight bit of childish immaturity that told him to be loud and kick and scream to get what he wanted. He didn't see the need to do extravagant plays for the adults at parties, or dance flamboyantly to get them to notice him, or use words too big for his age to try and impress his parents.

He would grow up eventually, and he knew that, but he didn't need to be loud in the process. In the end, by the time seven months of his abandonment had passed, Tyler realised he was lonely. No one who was a month away from being six years old should be lonely.

And then, on his eighth birthday, he decided that it was enough. Caleb and Pogue were playing with the toys they had brought with them to his party, and when he came up to try and talk with them they would go quiet and look at him with a certain annoyance.

Tyler couldn't forget the look of sadness Pogue's mother gave him when she found him sitting on the back porch outside the kitchen wiping his eyes. It was as though she had seen the loneliness he would evidently receive. She had dusted him off, given him a discreet spoonful of the icing for his cake she'd been whisking up and told him that she had organised for a pleasant surprise for him. She dried his cheeks, gave him a soft tap on the bum and told him to go wait in the lounge room with his mother.

Tyler decided that he liked Pogue's mother more than anyone, though that notion only lasted for less than another hour. The doorbell rang, a surprise to several of the people there including Tyler. He had expected that Pogue's mother had been making him a special desert he could sneak into his room without anyone knowing, but instead he knew somehow that whoever was at the door was her doing, they were the surprise she was offering him. And he took it gratefully.

Tyler had never liked Pogue or Caleb's fathers. They reminded him of his own father. The men looked down at their young sons, a sadness in their eyes as they wished them the best of luck with their lives and hoped for joy to come to them during their youthful years. The distant detachment the three fathers gave the boys sent Tyler into chilled shudders.

When Pogue's mother opened the door, a warm smile on her face as she stepped aside for the guests she'd invited as a surprise, Tyler noticed that they all carried themselves differently. The blonde woman dressed in darker clothes, but she had a brightness in her eyes that only faltered slightly when she entered the foyer.

Tyler never noticed the assessing and tense looks the other adults present gave this couple.

The man looked younger than his friends' and his own fathers, though there was still a certain loose roughness and greyish taint to the edges of his skin. He would later find out that this man was the oldest of them, though still remaining youthful in his appearance. He held a certain arrogance and superiority in his stance, but Tyler could see the warmth in his eyes.

The two of them looked perfectly content with their lives, and whatever fate had grasped his own parent and his friends' parents, which no doubt was also being faced by these strangers, had been accepted and taken graciously in stride. Whatever horror plagued the other adults was not tainting the lives of these two people; they were powerful, and in control.

The man caught sight of Tyler; kneeling down to the boy's level and placing a hand on his arm. No adult had ever treated Tyler like that, like an equal; they always treated him like a child or a nuisance. The man smiled at him, clapping his shoulder once and introducing himself.

"Mathew Garwin, nice to meet you son. I'm assuming you're the lucky man?" he asked, glancing up at Pogue's mother who smiled and nodded. "Molly 'n I go way back to school, best friend I ever had she is." he said, referring to the brunette woman.

He stood up, introducing his wife Lillian and then stepping aside to show the last person who Tyler was yet to see. A blonde boy about his height and age, though no doubt a little older, was looking at Tyler with an undeterminable expression.

"Happy birthday, kid." the man said finally. Tyler realised that the man didn't introduce his son before he left with his wife to make conversation with the adults and then meet Pogue and Caleb who were probably playing in another room.

Tyler decided he liked that man, but if he thought he liked him he found himself absolutely fascinated with the man's son. The blonde boy stuck his hand out, eyes narrowed in scepticism while Tyler's betrayed his intrigue with a look of confusion.

"What am I supposed to do with it?" he asked, staring at the slightly older boy's hand. When the confused raven looked up, the expression on the new boy's face was one of shock before the blonde started laughing loudly. Tyler flushed with embarrassment, and then even more as the blonde grabbed his hand, placed it in his own and shook it gently.

"You shake it." he said, giggling. "The name's Reid." he said, bowing dramatically. Tyler laughed, albeit slightly nervously, and shyly returned the gesture.

"Tyler." he admitted. "Why do you grab people's hands and shake them?"

"That's how you say hello. Dunno how it works, but Pa says it's polite." Tyler snorted back a laugh.

"My mum says it's polite to hug people." he said, removing his hand and crossing them over his chest. Reid grinned, hands behind his head and ankles crossed. The two six-year-olds stared at one another for a moment.

"Well? Aren't ya supposed to hug me?" Tyler decided he liked the boy; there was something about his attitude that was appealing. The younger boy knew that the blonde's attitude could be offending and considered rather rude for a child his age, but he didn't mind.

"I guess I am." instead, Tyler's arms grabbed the blonde around the waist and tackled him to the floor. The two boys rolled around, wrestling on the floor with one another in something between a fight and a game for dominance.

The parents, who finally noticed the two boys on the ground trying to pin one another, all jumped to their feet at the same time shouting at them to stop fighting. The volume of their voices brought Pogue and Caleb out, and the other two six-year-olds stood beside Reid's parents who were finding it oddly amusing.

When Pogue's father and Caleb's mother managed to separate the boys, they pouted and protested saying that parents were no fun. After assessing the boys for any injuries and not finding any, the adults could only look at one another in confusion until Lillian Garwin spoke up.

"The boys were just playing." she said. Tyler's mother, Tarren, spoke up haughtily.

"What kind of children play by trying to hurt one another?" she snapped at the blonde woman. "Just what do you teach your son!"

The blonde woman ignored the second statement. "I believe it's called rough-housing. All boys do it, it's just a game. They had no intentions of hurting one another. In fact…" Lillian paused, glancing at the two boys who once again escaped the adults interest and met one another half-way, Reid poking Tyler's nose and saying something about teaching him how to go cross-eyed. "…I think they rather like one another."

Tarren caved when she seen her boy smile for the first time in months, feeling her eyes go slightly teary at the sight. The woman had been sick with worry, and had protested for months when Pogue's mother, Molly, had insisted that she introduce the Garwin boy to her own son. She had thought it would only be bad, and when she had seen the boys rolling around on the floor she could only fear she was right.

But once again, the two boys were wrestling, only this time she noticed her son had the upper hand on the Garwin's boy, but she could see the smiles on their faces and hear the laughing in between. She smiled, grabbing Lillian's hand between both of her own.

"Forgive me for jumping to conclusions about your son." she whispered. "I cannot tell you how happy I am that he had finally found a friend that makes him smile."

Neither woman noticed that Caleb, who had been watching the two boys rolling around with interest and jealousy, snapped his gaze to them from where he was standing only two feet away beside Mathew Garwin and Pogue.

* * *

**Act III**

Caleb, when he had first seen Reid, had seen a confused blonde boy being held tightly by his friend's father and away from Tyler who was in the comforting arms of his own mother. At first he was angry, thinking the boy had been trying to hurt Tyler, but then he heard what the adults were saying and seen the two go to one another again and started talking excitedly, completely ignoring everyone around them. It was in that moment, when he seen how happy the two boys were at meeting one another, that he found himself feeling immensely jealous.

For the first month after Tyler's birthday, Caleb was jealous of Reid for taking Tyler away. In that whole time, however, he kept remembering what Tyler's mother had said to Reid's mother; had he been a bad friend? He had expected Tyler to always be there, but he never noticed just how much he was leaving his best friend out until Reid came along.

And then, as they all started to spend time together outside and inside of their first year of school, the four of them socially separated from the other children due to their expensive bags and clean ironed clothes, the adults started calling them the sons of Ipswich. Said that the four of them were always destined to be friends, but their alliances confused many.

People could understand Caleb and Pogue being best friends. While Caleb was, admittedly, spoilt he was also hungry for knowledge and the moment he learnt to read he was devouring not only the school and public but also the Danver home libraries, reading everything and anything he understood. Pogue, on the other hand, always stuck to the rules but had a bit of a wilder side to him.

He was the one who convinced Caleb to have fun, he was the one who Caleb kept on track in school. While Pogue was jumping off desks and trying to swing from ceiling fans, Caleb was making sure he wasn't getting hurt and patching him up when he was.

But then there were Tyler and Reid.

As Lillian had predicted, the two really did like each other. In fact, the two adored one another. The nature of their friendship worried some teachers, as they never left one another's sides in school, and absolutely refused to concentrate if one was away sick. While Reid was outgoing and loud, and also a bit rude and snappy, Tyler was quiet and shy, always polite but also following Reid's example without protest. It was thanks to Tyler's innocence and way with words that the two were never suspended from first grade.

But what worried the teachers in their first few years of schooling wasn't the fear that Reid was a bad influence on Tyler, as it was obvious the boy had a backbone and if he didn't want to do something he wouldn't. They were worried about the boys' development rendering them dependant on one another in years to come. Their mothers and fathers said it wasn't anything they should worry about, and if the boys were closer than they should be that was their business in their later years.

* * *

**Act IV**

Every boy and girl, when first going to school, learns the difference between genders. The girls wore skirts and had long plaited hair. The boys had slacks and had to keep their ties around their necks and belts done up. The boys would get in trouble for putting paint in a girls hair, but a girl was just given a talk to outside the classroom for putting glue on the seat of a boy's chair. Then, after establishing this difference, it was either love 'em or hate 'em.

Boys would claim girls had cooties, and girls would start to say the same about the boys. Then, as years grew on, and the boys discovered games like 'catch and kiss' and 'chase the girls', the parents would start to explain what would happen in the future. They would tell them all about how cuddling and kissing was for boys and girls to experience together, and then eventually, if your friends didn't trash-mouth to you first, you'd get an embarrassing first few talks to introduce the prospect of sex.

Tyler and Reid didn't care for the games Pogue and Caleb participated in. They didn't push girls off slides or into puddles to get their attention or cut their pigtails with safety scissors, or stuff glitter and paper cut-outs down the backs of their shirts to get a reaction out of them.

Instead, if Reid wanted attention, he'd push Tyler into a puddle or shove him off the monkey bars or throw snowballs at him. If Tyler was in a playful mood he'd stuff bark down Reid's pants, or put glue under his desk, or snip a bit of hair from behind the other boy's ear when he wasn't looking.

It was this behaviour that bothered the teachers. Several times they tried to talk to their parents, even bringing both families in for a meeting. The teachers weren't shocked that the two couples knew one another, thinking that Reid and Tyler no doubt played outside of school together as well. But, as Reid and Tyler sat on chairs outside the class room swinging their legs and wondering if they were in trouble, the parents tried avidly to explain why the boys were so close.

They told about Tyler being depressed and withdrawn at a young age for almost a whole year, and in a last desperate attempt a friend of the family which they revealed as being Pogue's mother had called the Garwin family. Finding Reid as a friend for Tyler had been the best thing they could have done, and they didn't care if their boys came home coloured from paint fights, or itching because they'd been wresting in bark and mud, or had a few scrapes from pushing one another off the play set.

But this explaining had taken close to half an hour, and the two boys grew restless. Both stood on their chairs, peering through the window to listen in and see if they were really in trouble. What they heard they never really understood until they were older, and in remembering it they understood all the more and weren't quite so shocked.

"I cannot express my gratefulness that Reid was able to save your son in time, and I am most happy that they have found what will probably be their best friend for life, but I'm not sure my concerns have been properly expressed. Your boys have shown no interest in anyone other than one another, and although they do associate themselves with young misters Danver and Perry, it isn't quite the same." their first grade teacher said, sounding exasperated. Reid and Tyler exchanged looks, turning their eyes back to the windows.

"Then do explain it, please. I cannot tell if our boys are in trouble or not, or if something is there to be concerned about. If there is I am sure we can fix it." Tarren Simms said insistently.

"There is something to be concerned about indeed. Your boys have shown no attraction, or even curiosity, toward the opposite gender. All their premature flirting has been with one another. You have explained the differences between genders haven't you?" she asked, sounding worried. Tyler and Reid looked at one another again.

"What's flirting?" Reid asked quietly, giving his friend a confused look. Tyler just shrugged; he'd never heard that word either.

"I don't see what the problem is, I'm afraid." Michael Garwin spoke up, staring accusingly at the woman.

"I'm saying that your sons are showing signs of developing homosexuality with one another." she said finally. "Your sons could be gay, and all the teachers believe so. We decided it was something the parents should be informed about."

"I still don't see the problem." Reid's father said again. Tyler's father, Nathaniel, spoke up finally.

"You speak of homosexuality as though one isn't born with it. If our boys are showing signs of it, then it is obviously something that was placed on them at birth and cannot be changed. I would rather our boys grow up entirely aware of what is happening to them and that it is mutual between them both then separate them and have them grow up misguided only to find out the truth when it is too late. If our boys grow up to be homosexual, and their feelings for one another are being expressed at this age, I do not think it wise to destroy something that could make them happy later in their life." the raven man said stoically.

"Hey Reid, what's homosexuality mean?" Tyler asked, leaning toward his friend. The blonde looked slightly pale, gesturing to his friend to follow him.

"Pogue told me what it was a few weeks ago," he started when they were down the corridor further. Tyler absently picked at the corner of a finger painting on the wall, still listening to his friend. "He said it was when a boy falls in love with another boy rather than a girl like he's supposed to."

Tyler looked up at this, frowning. "Is it wrong?" he asked. Reid shrugged.

"I think so. I mean, well…not really, no. I don't care, but some people don't really like it. Its one of those things that aren't allowed." he said, scuffing his foot. Tyler snickered.

"Yeah, but you never do what you're told. Does that mean you're homosexual then?" he asked. Reid flushed, giving a non-committal shrug.

"Dunno, maybe. Then again maybe you are too; you do whatever I do which means you don't follow the rules either." he teased, poking his friend in the forehead.

"Wait a sec, what do you mean by 'love another boy'? If I love you does that mean I'm homosexual?" Tyler asked innocently. Reid looked to the side, sighing. They were nearly seven years old and Tyler still hadn't been told the difference between one love and another.

"Um, that depends on how you love me. See, brothers can love one another, so can friends. But homosexuality is when two boys love each other like our parents love one another. That's why I don't think homosexuals are bad people, because my mother said everyone deserves the kind of love father gives her."

"Oh, so that means that if I loved you in the way where I want to live together with you forever and no one else like in those movies, that makes me homosexual?" Reid nodded. "Oh, I get it now."

They were silent for a moment, Tyler still thinking about the subject and totally oblivious to Reid's blush. The blonde was about to say something when the door to the classroom where their parents were being talked to slammed open.

The first thing Tyler noticed was that his mother was angry, and then that she looked as though she were about to cry. He startled when she wrapped both him and Reid in a hug at the same time, sniffling against his hair.

"Just remember mommy loves you no matter what, son. You can tell me anything whenever, I wont hold anything against you." she said. "The same goes for you, Reid. You can tell me or your mother anything whenever the time need be."

"We're proud of you, sons. Nothing will change that." Mathew said beside her, Nathaniel standing off to the side next to Lillian was rubbing a hand over his face in an irritated manner. Lillian smiled, looking by far the happiest of all of them.

"Our boys are growing up." she said, nudging her husband Mathew with her arm.

From that day on, Tyler and Reid found themselves calling not only their own but one another's parents by the same two words; mum and dad, though Reid insisted on calling his father 'pa', despite the man saying it made him feel old.

* * *

**Act V**

Their parents knew from when they were too young to remember everything entirely, as though the first day they met was the beginning of a lifetime courtship where their parents signed them off to one another. In a way, the boys were glad. Their parents had time to accept it wholly, and they wouldn't have to grow up in fear of their parents or one another's reactions to the news.

At the age of ten, Lillian asked both the boys if they remembered Tyler's mother's promise that they could tell them anything. After a bit of proverbial pushing and shoving, Tyler finally admitted to his best friend's mother, in front of Reid, that he was gay. It was the first time since he was seven that the subject of sexuality had been brought up between the two of them, not including Lillian's prompting. Tyler had never admitted it to himself, though he said straight after it that he had always known in a way that he was gay, at least since he found out what it meant.

Lillian kept her promise, and started saying how proud she was of Tyler for admitting it, and that she was happy he could tell her before anyone and that he had her undying support. Reid however, remained completely silent and in awe at his best friend.

Tyler, unsure if Reid was disgusted in him or not, didn't say the first word between them. Half an hour later, when Lillian said something about a doctor's appointment and left the kitchen to the two boys, one of which was turning eleven that same week and the other who was slightly younger, was when Reid spoke.

"I knew it." he said, grinning. Tyler, slightly frightened, smiled nervously but refused to meet his friends eyes. "I'm not the only one, this is great!" he shouted happily, punching his fist in the air.

Tyler turned to his friend in shock. "You…you're gay?"

"Ya-huh. I've known it since I was about seven and Pogue explained it, but I was a bit to scared to tell you. I wasn't sure how you'd take it, considering you're with me three-quarters of the day every day no exceptions. I was going to tell you that day, actually, but I didn't know how to tell you." he admitted. Tyler grinned shyly.

"Well, it never really clicked with me until just then, but I remember what you told me when we were seven. It's not wrong, and I'm not ashamed. I'm still scared though."

"Of what?" Reid asked, suddenly concerned.

"You said people don't like guys who are gay; I don't want to get hurt over something I cant help." he admitted quietly. "Man I'm pathetic."

"Baby boy, you aren't pathetic. I'm just as scared as you are. I don't want the world to know either, but as long as I don't have to keep secrets from my best friend I'm cool with being into other dudes." Tyler grinned, a nervous twitch of the lips.

"Baby boy?" he asked, giving a sly look at his friend who blushed.

"Well, you are the youngest. So that is what I'm gonna call you from now on whether you like it or not." Tyler shook his head at his friend.

"It wont stick, trust me. There's no way anyone else will call me that. How'd you even come up with it?"

"I heard ma call you that." he said, shrugging. Tyler coughed, standing from his seat at the counter and going over to the sink.

"So…no secrets huh?" Tyler asked, not turning to look at his best friend.

"Yep. Out with 'em Baby boy." Reid swiveled on his chair, folding his arms over his chest and leaning back on the bench.

"Soon enough, Reid." Tyler replied, face red and voice shaking. His reply ended with Reid chasing him through the entire Garwin manor, and by the time he was finally caught the blonde had completely forgotten about his friend's secret he refused to tell.

A good thing too, because later that week on his eleventh birthday Tyler admitted he was ready to tell his big secret. When Pogue and Caleb were busy looking for a movie the four of them could watch for the sleepover, and the parents had all gone home and Reid's had deposited themselves in bed, Tyler dragged his best friend outside for some fresh air telling their friends that he didn't feel so good.

Reid's worry subsided when, instead of his younger friend throwing up like he'd expected, he found himself with the other boy's lips on his in a chaste kiss.

"Happy birthday Reid. I hope my secret was worth all that running the other day." Tyler grinned. Reid stood still for a moment, before snickering.

"What, that's it? That's the best you can do, Baby boy?" he said, leaning against the stone wall with his arms folded cockily over his chest. If Tyler were anyone else, he would have truly been offended.

"Whadda ya mean?"

"You cant tell me that's the best you can kiss. I bet even Caleb could kiss better than that." Reid teased. Tyler flushed haughtily.

"Oh, you wanna see the best I can kiss?" he retorted, grabbing Reid's collar before the older boy could reply and bringing their mouths together again. Reid smirked against his best friend's closed lips, threading his fingers through the other boy's hair and prompting him to open his mouth with his tongue.

Tyler, getting the hint, responded to the now open-mouthed kiss and insecurely loosened his hands from Reid's collar, experimenting with the line between inexperience and practise as he found a comfortable place to settle his hands on Reid's hips.

Tyler had known all evening that this was what he wanted to do, and his stomach had been fluttering with a pleasant nervousness so bad that at one point, he had actually believed he was sick. It was a warm feeling, but it wasn't going away. It just felt even better, like a tension had been lifted from them both finally.

The first proper kiss in their lives didn't last long, and wasn't full of the desirable skill they would develop together over the years, but it said all it needed to say. They boys had adored one another since they met, and over the years though it had only been five, they had developed their friendship into something more. Something that was and wasn't meant to be.

The two boys had fallen in love with one another; there was no room for anyone else.

* * *

**Act VI**

Caleb, who hadn't grown up with the understanding parental advice or the soft transition between childhood innocence to adolescent experimentation to maturing emotions, had no idea how to deal with the metamorphous of his thoughts. The thoughts which, as Reid turned thirteen and gained his first taste of the power, found themselves in claimed territory.

Caleb was attracted to power, and with that he was attracted to Reid. The same beautiful boy Tyler had stolen any chance of anything remotely close to what he wanted from beneath his feet. It wasn't just the power that drove him to the edge, but it was what the power had convinced him he wanted.

The power convinced him he wanted Reid, but it never explained to Caleb that Reid was speaking and was spoken for someone entirely different but so close to Caleb that it was as though someone was dangling the key in front of his face but he was too scared to touch it.

That was why he grew scared of the power. The power knew that Caleb wanted the unattainable. The power knew that Tyler was all that was in Caleb's way to getting to Reid. To getting what he wanted. And the things the power made him think grew dangerous; so dangerous Caleb could no longer meet Tyler in the eye out of shame, and picked fights with Reid in an attempt to show him something he couldn't get from the youngest Son. He subconsciously knew Reid and Tyler were meant for one another, but the power convinced him that Reid was his anyway.

Caleb didn't want to listen to the power anymore.

That was why he was glad when the covenant started to split apart. He thought that, if he could bend the truth away from where the power was trying to convince him it was centred on, maybe he could move away from what the power wanted, or even go toward it.

He didn't want Reid and Tyler together; in fact he didn't even want Reid to even think Tyler's name.

He didn't want Tyler to exist. And the power agreed with him.

Caleb thought it was useless to fight his attraction to Reid's power. Until Pogue ascended, and the power suddenly desired to take that strength for himself. His mind wanted Reid, but the stronger, dominant part of him, the power, wanted Pogue.

And Caleb found he still wished Tyler didn't exist.

**TBC - R&R**

* * *

**A/N: **You may not believe this, but this entire story is coming from a dream I had about these four. A very, very long, sad and confusing dream. Most people know that dreams make absolutely no sense, so I'm struggling to make the boys remain in character, especially Caleb. In the dream, you wouldnt believe how brusque Caleb was - it was like he was another Chase all over again. Everything in the story that happened before Pogue's ascension was not in the dream to this extensive detail, and some situations have been added to explain their actions and situations.  
Reid's car was taken from the first image that came up under 'Aston Martin DB9 Volante', though because I'm in australia it may not come up first in other countries. Tyler still has the hummer, but Caleb says he isn't allowed to drive it for a few months because they had driven from the police in it so many times that they would all recognise the liscence plate. His car for this fic is a Ferrari f430 Spider. Please remember I know next to nothing about cars so pretend the prices of both are reasonable for the boys.  
I hope that the story makes a bit of sense, but there will be the following;  
character death, sexual situations, violence and language, sexual/physical/emotional abuse, adult themes.  
Pairings are;  
ReidxTyler for the majority, CalebxReid, CalebxPogue, ChasexReid, PoguexKate, AaronxSarah  
Reviews are most welcomed.

**Take care,**  
**Myurra K**


	2. II: Watch Where You Spit

**The Last Heart**

**From the Ugliest of Crimes comes the most Beautiful and Deadly of them all**

**Chapter II**

**Watch Where You Spit**

**Act I**

The sun, flaming in colour and heat, finally disappeared beneath the icy scope of the mountains, indigo from deep-set shade and bursting with a halo of mottled orange colour from the autumn trees. The air was warm in contrast to the pale flakes that fluttered to the gravel, christening the night with the first dusting of snow for the week's final days.

Caleb closed his eyes, not wishing to see the molten colours of the sunset. They were too beautiful, there was too much contrast. It was as though the sky herself was smiling and laughing at him, laughing at his pain in a way that jeered 'I told you so' as quietly as the whispered wind. He didn't want to see that humiliation.

With a cheek pressed to the cool glass of the window pane, a hand holding a plastic cup of pepsi to his temple out of habit, he could relax in the familiar darkness behind closed eyes. The sound of his own breathing and blood settled into a calmed rhythm, broken only by the crackling of his drink.

"What am I going to do." he said quietly to himself, pulling himself away from the window and swirling the drink in the cup absently. Taking a sip, his eyes shifted toward the clock hung on the wall, blatantly avoiding looking out the window.

He was still in the same predicament. Reid's ascension was growing closer and closer every day, he could feel the power bubbling under the blonde's skin, wanting to be released. Several times his own power seemed to almost reach out to touch the other boy; and without knowing why or how he'd be able to catch it just in time before anyone else noticed.

The only thing keeping him from doing something he'd regret so far was that Pogue's ascension had been only two months after his own, and had gone through successfully without any harm done to the youngest of his brothers. Pogue's ascension caught the other boy on fire to Caleb's senses, and though his desire for Reid had been long lasting and only recently acknowledged, Pogue's strength gave him something Reid didn't have yet.

But Reid's body was awaiting his ascension in a different manner. His power seemed to have caught alight like an incense stick; glowing brightly in the dark but unnoticeable in the light, burning down and releasing a scent that could either choke you or draw you in, an inconsistent trail of smoke left in it's path visible only for a while before disappearing completely.

Just thinking about Reid made Caleb groan. He'd seen something in Sarah, but it disappeared quickly. She reminded Caleb of Reid in a way, but it wasn't enough. Her blonde hair wasn't light enough, her blue eyes weren't bright and defiant enough, her pale skin wasn't dark enough and too loose on her body like a shirt that had been worn for too many years.

He wanted someone who could ignore him and fight him, defy him. Someone who would ignite the stubborn wick in his chest. Someone who's skin fit to their muscles so tight he could see them move underneath. Someone whose hair would run through his fingers like liquefied silk and fall back into place without any trouble. Someone who was willing to fight him for what he wanted whether or not they wanted it to, just because they could.

He wanted Reid.

But Reid was already spoken for. He was already claimed and there was nothing he could do.

_Lies..._

* * *

**Act II**

Pogue had always known that Reid and Tyler had a special kind of bond that nobody could break. He remembered waiting for them out the front of school every day, watching them in envious excitement. He liked seeing the two of them together, despite being jealous of them.

Whether it was because they were his friends, because it was just so right, or because he could sometimes put himself in their place he wasn't sure.

Reid and Tyler were best friends; had been since they first met at Tyler's sixth birthday party. He remembered forgetting his game with Caleb when he heard his mother shouting something, and had gone out with his friend to see what had happened. Pogue, just like everyone else, thought that the two had been fighting.

Then, after seeing the two of them start again he realised it was a game. He had never seen a game like that before, but it was in that little fight for dominance that he could see their amusement and Reid's triumph when he finally won.

Caleb knew that little game between the two six-year-olds had decided what they were like to this day. If Reid had never won, Tyler would have been the more dominant out of the two. He would have been the one who decided what they did or didn't do and Reid would have followed him around in mutual agreement. But Reid had won, and had earned Tyler's undying respect.

It explained why Tyler followed him the way he did.

But with that, Reid also had a responsibility over the youngest brother. A responsibility he took more seriously than anyone, even Tyler himself, believed. Pogue knew this, which was why it was no shock when Aaron's sleeve caught on fire in their first year boarding at the private high school.

Caleb had berated Reid for using on a person like Aaron, but Pogue had stood back in silence, an arm around Tyler's shoulders and giving Reid his silent support. He knew as well as Caleb that Aaron had been harassing Tyler as often as possible.

It came as a shock that their feud with Aaron was over Tyler, though not many people knew that. Instead of remaining calm about the situation and telling Aaron nicely that Tyler had a tough skin, short tempered friends and opinions of his own, they had returned fire almost brutally.

In the end, it was only Reid, Tyler and Aaron who knew why their grudge even came about. No one had the courage to ask for fear of stirring old ghosts and making the situation worse.

But Pogue knew more than this. He had long come to terms with the possibility that the two loved one another more than they would ever admit to themselves let alone each other, and that the love would obviously exceed brotherhood and create more.

But he had never known that the two had grown up with said knowledge themselves.

So that one time three months back when he decided to study for a trigonometry test and found himself falling asleep, he never knew that he wasn't alone in the library. Since it was passed curfew, the library was dimmed for straggling students and the librarian gone home. Pogue stood from his chair, lugging the multiple books he had gathered back to the shelves to stack them back in order.

He had heard rustling and low murmurs, and at first it hadn't occurred to him what or who he was hearing. Out of curiosity, he toed his way silently into the next isle, the sounds louder. This time, he could hear words.

"We shouldn't be here this late." the voice was familiar, but Pogue was more intent on slipping up to the shelf that was blocking the other people from his view. From the chuckle the other party emitted, Pogue could tell that both were male.

His interest peaked for some reason.

"Baby boy, that's what you always tell me." Pogue bit his lip to keep silent. Now that he recognised his friends, he was more curious as to hearing what they had to say rather than asking and risking being lied to.

"Reid stop it, it's late and we should be heading back to the dorms." Pogue wished he could see, but for the moment he refrained from using in case they could sense him from this far away.

"No one's here but us, and even if there were you should only care about me. Stop being a prude." despite the words, Pogue could tell Reid meant no offence by them. Something hit the books on the other side of the shelf, Pogue jumping back slightly. He assumed it was either Reid or Tyler from the sound.

"Its against the rules to be out this late." Tyler groaned, and whatever Reid was trying to coax out of him Pogue knew he was well on his way to getting it. Reid's reply was muffled, but Pogue could hear the words. It was the way they were said that made Pogue shudder; Reid's voice deep and low.

"You were the one who said I always break the rules." Tyler's groan sounded different this time, more drawn out.

"And you were the one who said I always do what you do."

"Then do what I do," it was said quietly, softly. "and just kiss me already."

Pogue had thought it was just a joke, but Tyler made no reply and the wet sound of lips meeting lips met the hidden brother's ears. This time, Pogue knew it was Tyler whose back hit the books, though how he knew it he didn't know. Tyler groaned again, gasping for breath.

"No one else can make me this hot with one kiss, Reid." he said, though to Pogue it sounded as though he were complaining.

"Same goes here, but you already know what you do to me, Baby boy." this time, it was Tyler who laughed.

"We taught each other well."

Pogue found he had moved from where he had been pressing his back to the book stack on the other side of the isle to gripping the books in front of him tightly, as though he were ready to move the only obstacle in the way of his two best friends. For what reason he wasn't ready to acknowledge.

Pogue startled at the sound of a zipper. "Not here." Tyler protested, Pogue torn between agreeing with him or not.

"That's what you said last night." lips met skin and sucked, Tyler mewled quietly.

"I meant it last night too."

"And the nights before that?"

"I meant it every night." Pogue frowned; was Reid pressuring Tyler into this? That didn't sound like Reid at all. He thought back to the week, but realised the two had been acting the same way they always did; like best friends chasing one another's tails.

"And just how long did you mean it for?" Reid asked, another zipper being dragged undone. This one was shorter, and followed by the metal click of a button and the jingling of a belt clasp as it was undone. Tyler's leather belt slid from his belt loops, clattering to the floor but the sound was muffled, Reid having no doubt removed either his own or Tyler's other clothes first.

"Not very long." Tyler sighed, and Pogue could hear them kissing again. Alright, so Reid wasn't forcing Tyler, just it took him a few moments to convince him to do something risqué. Pogue's relief was immense, but he still couldn't help but feel a little cheated. Not only did they not tell him and Caleb, but he couldn't even see what was happening.

Their kisses became shorter, more panting filled the space between. Clothes barely made a sound as they hit the floor, left to be mixed up and ignored in their owner's brief moment of passion.

"You ready, Baby boy?" Reid breathed, and a brief silence filled the air.

"No." something hit the bookshelf of the other side of the isle the two of them were on, further away from Pogue. There were more sounds, some Pogue couldn't distinguish, but the others were obvious after a few moments.

"Damn Tyler, you always do this… ngh, oh god…Ty," Pogue covered his mouth with his hand at the crude image in his mind of Tyler on his knees, mouth doing god-knows-what to Reid's body. His curiosity finally got the better of him, and he quietly pulled a hardcover book from the shelf in front of his eyes. Amazingly enough, the space on the other side of the shelf in the same place was clear of any obstacles for the most of it, though it was obvious the book that had been removed on the other side was much smaller.

Pogue was glad he was covering his mouth, for he bit down on his finger in time to stop himself from making any startled sounds. Reid had his eyes half closed, looking down at Tyler whose mouth was occupied with what was obviously Reid's erection. The blonde bit his lip, closing his eyes and turning his head away.

"Oh man, stop. Not yet." Tyler was standing and before Pogue knew it, Reid had swapped places with the younger boy, kissing him deeply. Pogue, now that he could see it, wondered only one thing. How could the world forsake such a relationship when it was such a beautiful thing. Pogue knew he didn't look as beautiful with Kate as the two of them looked together.

Their allure was burning, glowing, setting their skin on fire with it's energy and power despite the dim lighting. Their bodies glittered with sweat, but it only added to the blending of their skin. Pogue knew this was more than just making use of one another's bodies, this was more than just sex.

Pogue didn't even have to see all of them to see they had joined as deeply as physically able, Tyler crying out in pleasure as Reid rolled his hips foreword, into him. Their bodies tangled, air mingling, voices loud but words lost, as though their only coherent thoughts were one another's names.

After what seemed like an age between too long and not long enough, Reid's low long groan of his lover's name passed his lips and he fell against the other boy, who's legs tightened as much as possible, his own body tensing for mere moments until he too collapsed, exhausted.

The two slid to the floor, out of view of Pogue, who slipped away before he could hear their last murmured words of confession, because if anything should be kept to themselves that night it should be that. He didn't need to hear it to know what they were going to say to one another.

Because Pogue knew.

He knew they loved one another.

* * *

**Act III**

"Knock knock." was said through the thick oak entrance door. Caleb's hand never left the banister as he raced down the stairs, feet practically slipping off the edge of each one in his haste. Shrugging on his coat, Caleb opened the door and smiled at his friend.

Pogue quirked his brow, grinning at his friend. "Ready?" Caleb asked, pulling the hems of his grey hoodie into place in a gesture of irritation, contradicting his expression. Pogue, taking the hint, nodded and went straight to Caleb's car without a word.

Caleb slid into the driver's seat, glancing down in the direction of Reid and Tyler's units, seeing that Reid's car was gone, no doubt both of them taking it. Pogue watched his friend's obvious anger rising for a split moment, his eyes swirling black for a mere moment. Settling back into their normal blue-green colour, they softened and turned to the rear-view mirror, setting the car in reverse and making their way down the gravel road.

It was almost too quiet, Pogue shuddered at the intensity of the waves coming from his best friend. He'd always been able to feel them, much the way he could feel them when they rolled off Kate. Kate, however, was much more simple than his best friend. Kate wasn't jealous, homicidal and borderline insane. It was a bit more than a pain when trying to understand what Caleb was thinking and feeling, especially when he was like this.

"So…Reid and Tyler will probably be playing Aaron again." Pogue said nonchalantly. He was testing Caleb, trying to find out just who it was that was getting under Caleb's skin. He seen the other teen's eyes flash, though they never moved off the road.

So it was Reid.

"You know, you shouldn't let Reid's using get to you. He's young, he will learn his lesson when he wakes up one morning and he looks ten years older than the rest of us." Caleb's fingers fisted around the steering wheel tightly.

"Is Kate going to be there?" he asked. Pogue frowned in confusion.

"No, I don't think so. She and Sarah went up state with some girl named Pica for the weekend." he replied.

"Hn." was the only reply Pogue received. Sighing loudly, he leant his head against the window and watched the passing trees with much more interest than he thought he could have had.

As they approached the parking lot for Nicky's, Pogue was looking foreword to the night less and less. He had been hoping to just have a good time with his best friend, take all their minds off the next ascension in line and off the threat of Chase, but for some reason it seemed that Caleb had something else in his thoughts.

Something that didn't include having a good time.

As Pogue unclasped his seatbelt and opened the door, he could think only one thing. _'I hope Reid doesn't piss Caleb off tonight'

* * *

_

**Act IV**

What do you get when you throw warlocks Reid and Tyler into a game of pool against Aaron, the school's biggest dick, and his friends?

"Oh hell no, there's no way you're that good of a shot. You cheated!"

That should be your answer every time.

Reid smirked at the haughty brunette, arm wrapping around Tyler's shoulders and taking the money off the table with the other hand. "Well hell, boys. Looks like it's Tyler's turn. Knock yourselves out." he stuffed the money in his back pocket. Sliding behind Tyler, clapping his hands to the other boy's shoulders and standing at the other end of the table.

"Fine. What game, faggot." Aaron spat, eyes narrowed. Tyler ignored the comment, smirking to himself.

"Blackball." Aaron instantly winced; no one had ever won a game against Tyler in blackball. Most of the games they played were team player games, and they always chose just the regular game of pool, or drawing a number; everyone always forgot not to sink the number eight ball early and Tyler was an expert at missing it.

"Damnit! Fine, put down twenty boys. Unless the fag here wants to up the bid." Aaron glared at his opponent, daring him with his eyes. Without a word, Tyler grabbed his wallet and took out a note.

"Upped to fifty. Take it or leave it." Reid snickered, giving an appraising look in his best friend's direction before taking out his own fifty and slapping it on the pile. "That's at least two hundred gain, Aaron."

Aaron bit his lower lip, sighing and taking out another thirty. "You two are gonna make me go broke some day. Don't even know why I bother." he muttered under his breath, slapping it to the table. As usual, his two friends did the exact same.

"Alright, you ladies get the game started and I'll go get us some drinks. You guys want any?" Reid asked, surprising everyone. Aaron looked to his friends before nodding.

"Sure, whatever you two are having." Tyler cocked his head at the blonde, confused smile on his lips.

"Be right back. Don't go getting too carried away without me." he said, slapping Aaron on the back and weaving his way through the crowd toward the bar. Tyler grabbed a cue stick and a chalk while Aaron did the same, someone else started setting up the balls.

"You break." Tyler passed him the cue ball, Aaron eyeing him suspiciously before lining it up in the 'D'. Removing the triangle, Aaron leant over the edge and lined up the balls, the cue stick hitting the white neatly and breaking the stack.

After assessing there were no fouls and no scores either, Tyler called a group. "Stripes" he said, flicking his cue onto the table. "Clean game this time, Aaron." he said, eyes lidded as he stared at his opponent across the table.

"Just take your turn, Simms." without another word, Tyler lined up a combo shot.

"Your wish is my command."

* * *

**Act V**

"So what are you two fine looking young women doing here this early?" Reid said as he slid into the stool beside Caleb and reaching across to grab a fry from Pogue's plate. Pogue grinned, grabbing the bottle of tomato sauce and squirting it at Reid's fingers.

"Just checking out the scene. Whatever your doing, if it's fun can we join?" he asked. Caleb smiled tensely at Reid, spinning the bottle of coke in his hands and staring at it.

"Actually, Tyler's just starting a game of blackball with Aaron. After that we were just gonna play the boys in whatever they choose. You're welcome to come over and watch Tyler's game if you want, bets are welcome." Reid said, waving the bartender over.

"Oh Reid, don't tell my you're playing those idiots for money again." Caleb sighed, resting his head on the counter.

"Of course, how do you think I'm paying for the drinks? Those idiots don't know when to keep their money in their pockets." he said, rolling his eyes at the oldest brother. "Hey man, five cokes over here any day now." he called at the bartender.

"Five?" Pogue asked.

"Yeah, for me, Tyler and the boys. We're sorta setting 'em up. You know, being nice and getting em to play a fair game with a big whack of money at the end. Then we just snatch it from underneath with some skill shots and we're all good."

"Why do you do it?" Caleb asked, shaking his head. His dark brown eyes were trained on Reid now, who looked to the ceiling in thought.

"Well, it pays better than a job, and I get to see Tyler bending over a table for a few hours." Reid said, waggling his eyebrows. Caleb spluttered on his drink while Pogue appeared less fazed but unprepared for the comment nonetheless.

"Wha-huh?" he resorted to instead. Reid grinned, spinning around on the stool and resting his elbows backwards on the counter, lounging back.

"Look at him. You cant tell me staring at that ass for a few hours isn't appealing." Pogue snickered, passing the fries to Reid.

"Nah man, I already know you've laid claim to him." Pogue gave Reid a blunt look as though to say he knew. Reid flushed first then paled considerably, clearing his throat as he stood up.

"Hey man, put the five cokes on hold for a min, kay?" he called over the bar, slapping the money to the counter. "Gotta take a leak before I flood the whole bloody place."

Pogue and Caleb watched as he ambled toward the bathroom stalls with the same superior swagger they were so used to. Caleb didn't say anything, but the bottle in his hands was shaking from being held so tight, and his face was flushed red. Pogue slipped away without a word.

Reid slammed into the bathroom, staring in the mirror for a moment before kicking the pipes under the sink. "Fucking hell, were we so fucking obvious? Christ, what the hell do we do now? Fuck!"

"Just admit it." Pogue's voice cut through his tirade and abuse of the plumbing. The blonde's attention went to the door, Pogue standing inside and closing it behind him. "I already knew, dude. But I think it's time the two of you admitted it to everyone."

Reid's mouth opened and closed several times before he managed to gasp the words out. "How did…ugh?"

"I sorta kinda maybe seen the two of you goin' at it in the library." he admitted, shifting his eyes and scuffing the toe of his shoe. Reid's jaw dropped.

"Was it a g-rated sorta kinda maybe, or was this the sorta kinda maybe that's a little bit higher than that." the blonde asked, voice wavering in uncertainty. Pogue looked to the side, averting his eyes.

"Erm, I'd say x-rated." Reid's mouth opened and closed, his eyes wide and childlike in his confusion. He glanced at the mirror, before his legs went loose beneath him and he found himself gripping the edge of the basin to remain standing.

"Holy shit, why didn't you say anything?" Reid asked, eyes meeting Pogue's through the reflection. Pogue chuckled, clapping Reid on the shoulder.

"And what kind of friend would I have been to interrupt?" Pogue said sarcastically.

"One that isn't a closet pervert for guys who like to take it up the ass, maybe?!" Reid exasperated, shaking his head.

Pogue grinned, stepping back. "Look at the bright side, at least you know I'm cool with it" he brushed off Reid's shoulder, turning him around and straightening the blonde's clothes. "Be optimistic for once."

Reid snorted, shrugging Pogue off. "I invented Optimistic."

* * *

**Act VI**

Tyler whistled lowly, eyes on the table as the balls zipped around "Ooh, that's gotta burn." the end of his cue clacked with the ground, smirking over at Aaron who was looking torn between regret, amazement and anger.

In their last round, Tyler's necklace had slipped from behind his shirt and brushed one of the balls, and Aaron had fouled it even though they never fouled accidentally touching the ball before. By fair game, he didn't mean to call fouls at whatever chance you seen.

"What the hell?" Aaron started. "Blue, blue, red, 'effing green… and you still missed the black? The black was right next to the green and you missed it, how?!" Aaron was sounding more and more distressed as the game went on. Not that Tyler was complaining; it was a good change from being called a fag every ten seconds.

"Hows it goin, boys?" Reid piped up from the crowd, breaking through a few bystanders. Holding out a hand to Aaron and his two friends, the neck of each bottle between his spread fingers, he gave a wink in Tyler's direction.

"Creamed." one of Aaron's friends said beneath his breath, not saying any more when Aaron glared at him. Tyler was lining up another shot when Reid slapped the brunette on the ass, making him jolt the cue foreword in surprise and hit the cue ball without lining it up.

"Reid!" Tyler exclaimed, more interested in glaring playfully at the blonde than seeing what had happened with the game.

"Jesus christ!" Aaron shouted, running a hand down his face. Tyler turned back, seeing that he'd sunk at least two stripes. That left an orange stripe and the black still on the table; he only had to sink those two in that order and he won.

Reid's arms came around his waist from behind, the blonde's chin on his shoulder. Tyler half wanted to snuggle back into his lover and half wanted to turn around and beat him with the cue stick. Taking one of the two bottles in Reid's hands, Tyler took a sip and sighed when Reid didn't let him go.

"You're getting me all hot the way you're beating these balls around, Ty." Tyler flushed, mumbling something incoherent and pulling away from Reid, holding his cue up in a threatening way as he went to prepare his next shot.

"Reid, shut up for a minute would you?" Tyler snapped half-heartedly. "And stop making everything sound so dirty."

"You love it." Reid retorted as Pogue and Caleb pushed through to see the last few moments of the game, throwing back his head and sculling the coke, which was actually harder to do than one would think. Tyler snorted, hand out on the table and cue between his propped knuckles, squaring off another hit. "Go, go Baby boy."

"Reid, please." Tyler sighed, closing his eyes and trying to shut out the blonde warlock's voice. His low, husky voice that sent shivers down his spine and whispered sweet words to him when no one was listening. The same voice he knew so well he heard it in his head like a second conscience.

"Hey Tyler, guess what." Reid said, grinning. Pogue rolled his eyes, nudging Caleb in the ribs and whispering a bet to him. Caleb grinned for the first time that night and took it on.

"Ignore him, Ty. Just wrap it up already." Pogue called out, crossing his arms, and smirking at the blonde. Reid ignored him, leaning down beside the youngest raven and letting his breath brush across the other boy's neck, revelling in how it made the younger boy shudder.

"If you win this one without using, I'll make sure you never forget tonight." he whispered lowly, lips brushing Tyler's ear.

"…fine." Tyler huffed. Reid's arm went around his lower back, squeezing his hip.

"That's my baby boy." standing back and bringing the bottle to his lips again, grabbing Tyler's bottle from the edge of the table where the other boy had left it. With one hand at his lips, the other crossed over his own abdomen, Reid watched eagerly as his lover clenched his tongue gently between his teeth in concentration.

Tyler let out a slight breath. "Please let this work." the tip connected with the edge of the white, sending it bouncing off the edge and straight for the black. It shot off the black at an angle, hitting another edge and then knocking into the remaining orange stripe ball. Both the orange and the black balanced on the edges of the pots at opposite ends of the table.

The radius around the table was silent, watching as the balls continued to balance on the ends of the pots. Reid could see Tyler was dying to use, but was restraining himself. Finally, the orange sunk and then the black. There was room only for Tyler's sigh of relief before at least half of the crowd watching the game cheered loudly for Tyler, who looked as though he was struggling to hold himself up with one hand on the edge of the table and the other holding the cue straight up.

"Yes! That's two-hundred gain!" someone called, and Caleb stared between both Reid and Tyler in bewilderment. They'd never won that much money on a one-on-one game before. Reid grinned dropping both bottles on the table, stuffing the two-hundred and fifty in Tyler's back pocket before grabbing him by the shoulders and spinning him around.

"I fucking love you." the blonde breathed, hand moving to the back of Tyler's head and bringing the raven closer. Out of familiarity rather than awareness, Tyler allowed Reid to pull him into a kiss. Reid knew that this wasn't what Pogue meant about admitting it to everyone, but it was just as good.

And Tyler, who seemed to finally gain awareness of where he was, pulled back to stare at Reid in bewilderment. No one missed how his arms were still around Reid's neck.

"Reid, they'll see?" Tyler asked more than pointed out.

"Then they'll see how god damned amazing I think you are." this time, Tyler leant up to mash their lips together, and amazingly enough, people still cheered. Pogue could only think how he wasn't the only one who thought it was obvious.

Caleb watched the two of them with a look of blank curiosity for a few moments, until his face went practically red in livid rage. Pogue seen his friend's anger and moved to stand in front of Caleb, a hand on the older boy's chest.

"Caleb, don't. You had to have known by now. Don't tell me you didn't know." Pogue tried, ignoring the sting he felt in his chest when Caleb roughly knocked his hands away from him, turning so his side was facing Pogue.

"I knew, I just didn't want to believe it." Pogue watched silently as Caleb shoved his way through people, shouldering others who tried to get past him from the opposite direction. He nearly jumped when he felt Reid's arm drape itself over his shoulders.

"Was it something I did?" the blonde asked light-heartedly; whenever Caleb was angry it was usually something he did. Pogue turned, a slightly flushed Tyler under Reid's other arm.

"Caleb just stormed off to probably kill something, and that's all you can say?" Pogue deadpanned. Reid shrugged, sliding his arm off Pogue's shoulder and bringing Tyler in front of him, arms crossed over the raven's chest and chin resting on his shoulder.

"Hey, look at the bright side. Me 'n Ty can do what we want without mommy spanking us for one night." he said, chuckling when he felt Tyler's body temperature rise. "Jeese, Pogue. Be optimistic for once."

Pogue grinned. "I invented optimistic."

Tyler could only feel as though he were missing something.

* * *

**Act VII**

"Oh god, please…Reid!" Tyler whined, sounding less convincing each moment that passed. "Why now?" Tyler was seated on the counter of the bathroom at Nicky's bar, legs wrapped around Reid who bit his neck softly before answering.

"Because I can do what I want; you're mine." Tyler pulled away from the blonde.

"Oh, I'm yours?" he asked, frowning at the blonde. Reid blushed, turning his eyes to the fluorescent light above them, watching it buzz and flicker for a moment before clearing his throat.

"Well, yeah. I own you and you own me; it's part of the deal when you love someone. I cant help it you made a bad choice." Tyler grinned, resting his palm against Reid's cheek. The blonde looked up and flushed, chuckling nervously "…oh…you were only joking."

"You're not a bad choice, Reid." Tyler sighed, pressing his lips to the blonde's cheek. "You're my _only_ choice." Reid huffed, sliding his hands into Tyler's back pockets and nuzzling into his neck.

"You make it sound like you had _no_ choice." he mumbled.

"And you make it sound like I _still_ _have _a choice." Tyler moaned, biting his lip when Reid's hot mouth pressed over his throat. He groaned when his lover pulled away, opening his eyes and staring into Reid's moonstone gaze.

"You do, you know. You could walk away any time you wanted."

Tyler grinned cheekily. "Yeah, but you wouldn't let me." Reid frowned.

"Of course I wouldn't. What kind of Garwin would I be if I just let you walk away without a fight?"

"What kind of lover would you be, or man for that matter."

"Hopefully not the one you fell in love with, or you'd be sorely disappointed. As in, literally sore; we'd be up all night while I showed you just what you fell in love with." Reid breathed, pressing his lips to Tyler's. Tyler gasped and leaned back, tilting his head for Reid to continue his assault on his neck once again.

"I fell for you before the sex, Reid…" Tyler gasped.

"Wish I could say the same." Reid joked, chuckling and sliding his hands from Tyler's pockets up underneath his shirt, kneading his fingers gently into the younger boy's skin.

"I'm serious, Reid. I fell for you when I met you, I was just too young to understand. I couldn't leave you if I tried." Reid sighed happily, dragging his bottom lip along the cure of Tyler's neck until he was met with his jawbone, kissing it gently.

"I know, I know baby boy. But you have to promise me, should something happen to me during my ascension, or any other time for that matter, that you will move on eventually." the blonde murmured, leaning back to look into Tyler's eyes.

Tyler shook his head. "I can't promise you that." the raven looked down, running a hand through his mussed locks and refusing to meet Reid's gaze. The blonde smiled sadly, raising a hand and lifting Tyler's chin with it. Blue eyes clashed, Reid still smiling sadly as he traced a finger up over Tyler's cheek bone, into the younger boy's hair and curling it behind his ear.

"You have to." he said quietly, ignoring his burning eyes and pressing their foreheads together. "Promise me, Tyler."

Tyler was silent, but slowly his hands came up behind Reid's shoulders. He pulled his blonde lover closer suddenly, a choked plea coming from the older boy's lips. Tyler smiled softly, wrapping his legs tighter.

"I promise," he whispered. "but so do you." Reid hesitated but nodded, neither moving while wrapped in the comfortable intimate silence.

A knock at the door broke them out of their moment, Reid growling in annoyance.

"come back in three days, fifteen hours and thirty two minutes!" he shouted, pouting and burying his face into Tyler's neck.

"What, that all?" Tyler mumbled, Reid huffing and ignoring him.

"Guys," it was Pogue. The lock on the door clicked open, the older boy no doubt using to let himself in. "Caleb's madder than I thought, we're leaving in three." he said, glancing between the two before turning and leaving.

Reid turned to look at Tyler, who shrugged in return. Letting go of one another, they fixed their clothes and started to head out before Tyler stopped Reid by a hand on his arm.

"Don't forget your promise." he said, grinning. Reid's lips quirked to the side.

"Which one?" he asked. Tyler grinned, grabbing Reid's elbow and pulling him closer. Lips met Reid's ear, warm breath sending shivers down the blonde's spine.

"The one where you promised I'd never forget tonight."

* * *

**Act VIII**

The door slammed behind him, but it was only a matter of time before Pogue followed. The rage in his chest was swelling unbelievably, and all he wanted was to get away from everyone. As he expected, the door opened and Pogue raced down the steps.

What he didn't expect was for Tyler and Reid to be following as well. He took a deep breath, doing his best to steady the rage and push away the power.

"Caleb, I can feel it. You've been struggling not to use for days now. It's leaking off you in ripples right now; you have to calm down." he tried, resting a hand on Caleb's shoulder. The oldest son felt his power spike at the touch, and in a blur of anger he shot Pogue away.

The other boy stumbled, but managed to stay on his feet.

Reid, whose arm was around Tyler's waist, pulled the youngest son to his side protectively. "Caleb, Pogue's right. You have to calm down."

"Shut up." Caleb snapped, fists clenching. His eyes didn't leave Reid and Tyler, but he was doing all he could to avoid meeting Tyler's eyes. The other raven shifted behind Reid, hiding his face and staring fixatedly at the blonde's shoulder.

"Is it something I did?" Reid asked. Caleb growled in his throat, Tyler hearing the sound and turning his gaze toward his oldest friend. Caleb's eyes met his then, and it all ended.

Tyler had always been the one to get what Caleb wanted, and it was partly his own fault that it happened. But this time, he couldn't take it. He wanted his little brother dead, and he couldn't stop himself. Before Pogue could try to intervene, Caleb sent a shock wave at both of the youngest warlocks.

They crashed to the ground; Pogue's hands grabbed at Caleb's arms, trying to stop him. Caleb ignored him, raising his hand in the direction of his youngest brothers. His eyes were black, swirling with blue but steadily darkening. Tyler suddenly lifted, his hand grappling for something to hang on to.

Suspended in the air, Tyler could only stare at Caleb in confusion. "Caleb, let me go!" he cried weakly. Caleb grit his teeth, shooting his hand in the direction of the stairs. The power released Tyler, and he crashed heavily against the handrail, a sickening crack resonating through the alley.

No one made a sound, save for a slight groan released from between Tyler's lips. Reid reached out, eyes wide and fear trembling within them. "Tyler?"

"Don't say his name!" Caleb shouted, the power picking Reid up and throwing him though a stack of wooden crates full of tin cans and glass bottles, the blonde crashing through them and slamming against the building. This time, there was no crack, but Reid fell heavily and silently to the ground. The only sounds that were heard was the heavy breathing of both Pogue and Caleb.

"What have you done?" Pogue whispered. Caleb didn't answer, his eyes losing the black. His lips pursed, and his breath came out shakily.

Caleb was staring at Tyler, arm draped over the handrail and body collapsed on the top step. Blood steadily dribbled down each step, one by one until it pooled on the ground. Caleb felt his back hit the brick wall before he even felt Pogue's hands on his coat. The younger boy threw him against the building, angry eyes as black as the disk of night sky above them.

"Caleb, what the fuck have you done!" he screamed, slamming Caleb's back into the wall again. The older boy was silent, grinding his teeth together in refusal to reply. Pogue stepped away, ripping his hands off Caleb's front as though they were burnt. His hand brushed through his hair as me made his way over to Reid.

Caleb watched as Pogue stood there, staring at the two younger brothers. "Are they dead?" Caleb asked quietly.

"Is that what you wanted?!" Pogue shouted, blazing eyes turning to Caleb in anger. Caleb looked down, Pogue reaching his hand to Reid's neck. After several moments, Pogue sighed in relief. "He's alive." the brunette turned to the stairs, where Tyler was lying. The younger boy was twisted almost grotesquely, and his neck seemed out of place in that position.

Mindful of the blood, Pogue held his breath and reached down to test for any signs of life of the boy. It took several moments, but he let out a shaky breath.

"He's alive, but barely. I could hardly feel his pulse." it was spoken more to himself, as Caleb continued to stand there and stare at his shoes. Finally, when he did speak, his voice was husky and low.

"Can I use you're phone?" he said, holding his hand out but not meeting the younger teen's eyes. Pogue looked hesitant, but handed his phone to Caleb anyway, still glaring. "I'm sorry, Pogue. I cant…I cant control my power. It took me, I couldn't stop myself." he said quietly, not expecting Pogue to believe him.

Surprisingly, Pogue sighed again. "Yeah, I know." Caleb flipped open the phone, dialling the emergency number. When the lady finally answered, his voice broke in regret as he spoke.

"I need an ambulance, my friends have been attacked and need immediate attention." he didn't need to look up to know Pogue wouldn't stop staring at him. After being assured that the ambulance was on its way to Nicky's, he handed it back to Pogue. "I'll go wave them down, you stay with the boys."

Pogue nodded, watching as Caleb made his way inside. He knew it wasn't moral to just forget Caleb had done this, but he knew it was what was best for everyone. Caleb would learn to control his power, he'd keep the secret with him, and Reid and Tyler would recover…he hoped.

* * *

**Act IX**

"You two are here for Mister Garwin and Mister Simms, am I correct?" the doctor asked. He pushed the glasses up his nose and held out the clipboard in his hands, flipping one page and skimming it before placing it back over the top.

"How are they?" Pogue asked. They had been sitting there for hours, Caleb was half way between sleeping and waking and Pogue hadn't stopped staring at the vending machines for over an hour. Both were pale, but Caleb especially. It seemed to have sunk in what he had done, but Pogue wasn't sure if he should blame the older boy or not.

He just wanted his brothers to be alright.

"Well, I'll tell you one at a time. Mister Garwin's injuries weren't too severe. He has many cuts over his body from the glass and tin. We managed to clean them all out and we've given him a tetanus shot just in case. He has a small fracture in his ankle and a damaged tendon. His shoulder was dislocated, and his left wrist is broken. He's in a small coma right now, but he's been showing signs of REM sleep."

"Is that a good thing?" Caleb asked, awake enough to realise the doctor was talking to them. The doctor nodded.

"It is, but unfortunately Mister Simms isn't showing any signs of ever waking up. He's had not an ounce of REM sleep since he came in, not to mention his other injuries."

"What's REM sleep?" Pogue asked, confused.

"REM sleep is a phase of sleep where the brain function is similar to that when awake. It produces vivid dreams during a paralysed state. It is basically telling us that Mister Garwin's body is healing, and his brain will wake up when he is ready. And judging from his rapid healing it will be any time between now and a week's time." the doctor flipped the page again. "Mister Simm's injuries, however, are much more severe. He lost a lot of blood and his vital signs are barely there. He is showing signs similar to that of a Cataplexy attack. His head took a pretty hard hit. We did a scan and it seems that there is severe damage to the right side of his brain, including the right hippocampus and the cerebellum. Now, this brain damage isn't the worst of his problems; it seems that in the attack he also suffered a damaging blow to his neck."

"Is it fatal?" Pogue asked, thumbnail between his teeth in worry.

The doctor sighed. "In all my years, I've never seen a fracture this bad that didn't kill a patient. It's a miracle he survived, but if he ever wakes not only will he have little to no memory and a loss of most speech and numerical functions, he will probably be paralysed. If he wakes up, he wont be Tyler anymore; he'd be akin to a vegetable."

Silence fell over them like a blanket soaked in water, until finally Caleb spoke up when it seemed neither Pogue or the Doctor wished to. "What are his odds of waking?" Pogue asked.

"I will be completely honest with you boys, as I feel you deserve to know. I do not believe he will ever wake, it is near impossible for him to do so in his state. He should already be deceased due to his injuries. He is only alive because of the life support, he's not even dreaming. It's as though he's not even really there anymore." Pogue couldn't hold it any longer; the tears broke through his guarded mask and fell down his face.

"Tyler…oh god, Tyler…" he whimpered, covering his face with his hands.

"Now, here are there things. We are aware that both boys live alone, and that you two are their closest neighbours. We've contacted your school and told of both boys conditions, and they wished to be informed of all changes, so we hope you two will be able to do that. We tried to contact Mister Simm's parents, but we are afraid we cannot reach them."

"They're in New Zealand, if you like I can call them tomorrow and explain everything." Caleb said quietly.

"If you would be so kind, could you also ask them to call us here at the hospital, we have to discuss Tyler's condition. There is the possibility that his parents would rather him taken off life support. I want you two boys to know that." Caleb nodded, and after a few strained moments so did Pogue, who was torn between crying harder and protesting that it was wrong.

"Can we see them?" Pogue asked weakly.

"You may visit Reid, but Tyler I'm afraid has been taken in for more scans. I'm sorry."

"No, It's alright." Pogue remained seated however when Caleb stood. "I'll be there in a minute, it just…it has to sink in." Caleb nodded soberly, and Pogue buried his face in his hands. The doctor waited for Caleb to disappear around the corner before he sat down beside the brunette.

"I understand this is hard, but I want you to tell me what happened. The odd thing is that there are result wounds, but no instigation wounds." the doctor's hands remained folded in his lap over his clipboard, but it was obvious he was itching to grab a pen.

Pogue was silent, eyes flickering over the place before he finally answered. "Caleb wanted to let off some steam so me and the boys joined him for a walk. Halfway, Tyler said he'd forgotten something and the two went back. We eventually had to go back ourselves, and when we got to the back of the alley, we found them like that. We have no idea how it happened, but we just assumed they were mugged."

The doctor 'hmmed' and leant back in the chair. "I'm not sure; Mister Simms had over two hundred dollars in his back pocket and nothing was removed from them that we know of. Is there anyone who would have wanted to hurt them, specifically Tyler?"

Pogue was silent once again. "Reid's a bit of an asshole, but no one really hates him. And everybody loves Tyler; he wouldn't hurt a fly. The two of them together can get on people's last nerve but no one would want to hurt them."

The doctor nodded in understanding. "Thankyou. Now, would you mind telling me what the boys had done that night? Anything that might have gotten to anyone in particular?"

"Well…they won a few games of pool against some guys from school, which is were they got all the money from. And then…they came out, sorta…"

"Came out? As in as a couple?" Pogue made a sound half between a cough and an affirmative noise. "Hmm. Well is there anyone you know of who may not have wanted to see them both together?" Pogue shrugged, trying to hide how stiff he was by standing up.

"Sorry that I couldn't help, doc." he said, fisting his hands. "I'm gonna see Reid now; maybe you should ask Caleb some questions later." the doctor shook his head.

"Mister Danvers wont say anything."

Pogue didn't reply, making his way down the hall toward Reid's room.

Such a beautiful thing and they had broken it. What had they started?

* * *

**A/N: **alright, so the story is moving along at about the right pace now. I hope there was a bit more communication between the characters in this chapter. There will be more on Caleb in the next chapter and his jet-lagged reaction to what he had done. This was a part in my dream I modified - originally Caleb jumped Pogue directly after he attacked Tyler and Reid, and he actually attacked Reid in the bathroom as well. However I've shifted both events back into the story, and I've changed the ending when it comes time, like an alternate ending sort of thing. Also, Tyler and Reid were a lot more touchy-feely in this chapter than the actually were in the dream for obvious reasons.

Basically; Tyler and Reid have been in love since they were children, but Caleb fell in love with Reid for his power - not for who he was. Because Caleb has already succumbed to the power, he thinks he gained control over it but the reason he's so scared of it is because he knows the power is controlling him. He cant control the power in the slightest, and the power knows what he wants. However, until Reid ascends, Pogue's power surpasses Reid's and Caleb's own power is attracted to it. Pogue is safe until Reid ascends, whereas Tyler was never safe.

Take care,  
~MK


	3. III: Drawing The FlatLine

**The Last Heart**  
**MyurraK**

_**From the Ugliest of Crimes comes the most Beautiful and Deadly of them all**_

**Chapter III**  
**Drawing The Flat-line**

**Act I**

"_Here are their things. Their clothes had to be cut from them, so this was all we could salvage."_

The raven was seated on a hard plastic hospital chair, legs spread and back hunched, elbows on knees and chin resting on hands. Coffee sat cold in a paper cup, gone soggy from hours of neglect, was resting on the ground in the space between his feet where he had placed it.

Caleb sat staring relentlessly at Reid's chest as it rose and fell slowly. It was Saturday evening and the blonde still hadn't woken from his sleep; but Caleb wasn't worried. He'd pull through, he always did. He wasn't worried, as long as Reid made it they'd all be alright.

"_Thanks. We'd like to be alone with him for a while." _

The door opened, Pogue stood in it's entrance with a paper bag no doubt containing Tyler and Reid's possessions. He hadn't been listening to the conversation between his best friend and the nurse, so he could only guess. The other male looked at him with an sadly endearing gaze, before taking a seat on the floor beside him, ignoring the chair on the other side of the small room.

Pogue blew a flyaway strand of his shoulder-length hair from his face, trying to get a better look at his older friend. He assessed how tired and drawn Caleb looked; he didn't appear concerned, but his body was suffering from his inability to leave the room.

Several times over the past twenty-four hours, Pogue had seen Caleb's eyes flash black as though the other just wanted to wake Reid up by force; luckily he had enough control to refrain from that at least.

"They say he should wake up soon; maybe we should go home and get some rest." Pogue offered, giving a tense glance at the blonde. It still hurt him to look at either one of his damaged friends; their beauty shattered as an expense for their love.

"Why did they do it." Caleb asked suddenly. "Why did they fall in love."

"Hey man, it wasn't their choice to make. And it wasn't yours either." Pogue snapped before he could help himself. The anger inside him swelled and he stood from the floor, brushing his jeans down and grabbing the bag again. "See you tomorrow."

Caleb didn't bother looking up at the disappointed and angry look his friend no doubt gave him before leaving the room. He had nothing to say; he couldn't just make himself right again. This wasn't just some passing phase he was going though; he wasn't some heap of emotional angry energy - this was real.

This was _real.

* * *

_

**Act II**

Sunday morning heralded the arrival of Pogue at Tyler's personal room. The older warlock had wanted to visit Reid first, but after catching a glimpse of Caleb inside he turned back the way he came and searched out an intern who could direct him toward his other friend's room.

Tyler was dying. From looking at him, Pogue wouldn't have been surprised if he was already dead. His chest didn't even appear to be moving, and the breathing apparatus obscured half his bruised face. The horribly mechanical sound that seemed to be almost copyrighted from a Starwars movie filled the room with each breath forced into Tyler's dependant lungs, and his heart maintained an oddly steady beat on the monitor.

_Beep…whoosh-beep-ch…beep…whoosh-beep-ch…beep…_

Pogue shook his head; the boy he'd always seen as a younger brother was lying there, breathing only because the machine was making him. An IV was hooked into his arm, satchels hanging either side - one of blood and one of some thick clear liquid that was probably some sort of food-and-water substitute.

He took a seat on the side of the bed that wasn't crowded with gnarly machinery and took the limp, cold hand in his own. Sliding his other hand into his pocket, he produced a ring that he'd found in amongst the items he had been given the previous evening. It was Tyler's ring, one his mother, Tarren, had given to him.

Despite how feminine people said the ring was, the boy continued to wear it.

Taking the boy's ring finger, he slid the ring back on. It was a simple adjustable silver band, with a washed-out green gem in the middle, raised off like a studded rhinestone. Either side of the stone, a silver band had been curved into the shape of a heart, the ends curling inside near the gemstone while the end made a round 'V'. Such a simple ring, yet somehow, Tyler had managed to make it look elegant on his long slender fingers, which was how it appeared now.

Only, those long slender fingers were cold and pale, blue veins visible through his flimsy almost transparent skin. Pogue could almost envision every weak obligatory thrust the boy's heart made within his ribs, pushing that blood through his veins.

He couldn't even feel the boy's pulse; but according to the monitor it was there.

The doctor had told them that it was strange how hard to detect Tyler's pulse was. The boy would have slipped through their fingers under the radar if he and Caleb had decided just to take them home instead of to the hospital.

Still, Pogue could feel the curious eyes on him whenever nurses or interns run into him around the halls, or the solemnly suspicious look the doctors would give him whenever they passed. And the whole time, his guilt was only growing in his chest. To expose Caleb would be to expose the Covenant.

But not to do so was letting him get away with such a crime.

_Look at him_, Pogue thought. _He's not even dreaming.

* * *

_

**Act III**

Blurry…why was everything so blurry? The sounds were thick; he could see the shape of lips moving but he could only hear some sounds. He felt so numb; strangely serene but numb. There was something nagging in his mind that was telling him he should be dreading this moment, but he passed through it with ease.

Waking from a long sleep was so easy.

"Can you hear me? Tell me, how are you feeling?"

"Hmm, numb. And calm." he replied, staring the weathered doctor in the eyes as he started to come into focus now.

"Yes, that would be the drugs. Anything else? Any pain?"

He frowned, mentally scanning his body. He even moved slightly to see if that instigated any rapid shots of pain through his body. But everything was fine, his limbs could move and his fingers could curl. He was awake finally.

"No, none. I'm feeling great." he said honestly, feeling as bewildered as the doctor looked.

He was sure something should be hurting; he remembered being thrown throughs stacks of glass and tin and into the side of a building. How long had he been asleep for? Not that long, surely.

"You've been out for three days. It's Monday, which is why no one is here with you. Your friends had to go back to school." I frowned.

"Friends?" I asked. Had they been here this whole time? And if so, which ones? All of them, surely not.

"What is your name, son." the man asked, bending down closer. "Do you remember?"

"Of course I remember, I'm not some nancy who cant take a hit you know." the boy growled, fisting the sheets in his hands. "My name's Reid Garwin." the doctor nodded, smiling slightly.

"Well Mister Garwin, if you can take a hit, then why are you in here?" the blonde blushed, looking away.

"Well, fine have it your way, doc. I'm only human." he retorted. The doctor launched into a short description of his condition and saying he could leave in a day if he liked. Reid nodded and was about to just watch the doctor walk out when something crossed his mind.

"Wait, what time is it?" but it was too late. Reid knew the doctor heard him because his steps faltered and his hand hesitated on the doorknob. But the man had left nonetheless and he wasn't going to know until someone else came and seen him.

Huffing, he felt dreadfully awake for being in a hospital. He was so used to sleeping in complete darkness that the lights and the white walls were too much for his poor tender eyelids to handle. He wasn't really that tired, but there seemed to be little aside from sleep to do in a hospital. He'd learnt the hard way that trying to pass time by yelling at the nurse looking after you isn't the best thing to do.

They find any excuse to give you needles for the rest of your stay.

Suddenly, he felt a shot of pain in his temple. It wasn't uncommon for him to get sharp pains at random places throughout his body, though Tyler had been the only one to know of it. The sensitive spikes in his nerves always seemed to hit him at the wrong times though.

"Oh god…my head." he groaned, bringing the hand that wasn't hooked up to the IV and in a cast to it, pressing at his skull and trying to rub away the pain.

When the door opened next a few hours later, it was Pogue. Reid sighed, only slightly disappointed. He had hoped it would have been Tyler to come and visit him. Thinking about it, why was he even in here in the first place? He met Pogue's eyes and gave a slightly awkward smile.

For some reason, Pogue just looked slightly nervous. He didn't return the gesture, instead sitting on a chair at the end of the bed. "Hey man." he said quietly.

"Hey." Reid replied, watching Pogue intently. The other boy seemed oddly fascinating right now; and for some reason a feeling of apprehension lodged in his throat. Glancing around the room, he found himself wishing that Tyler would just get there already.

"So…how are you?" Pogue asked. Reid shrugged, still staring at the other boy.

"I'm fine. Hey, no offence or anything but do you know when Tyler's gonna get here?" Reid asked. For some reason, that question seemed to have been the wrong one to ask. The colour drained from Pogue's face, and he looked absolutely terrified.

The door opened again and Caleb made his way through, Pogue dashing out of his chair and grabbing the other. The two disappeared out in the hallway, the door swinging closed slowly before clicking comfortably back in the frame. Reid blinked, mouth open and ready to say something but he found he couldn't.

That was beyond strange.

* * *

**Act IV**

"What the hell?" Caleb muttered as his best friend lunged at him, pushing them both outside of Reid's room. "What's gotten into you?"

"He doesn't remember." Pogue gasped, staring into Caleb's eyes. The raven's own widened briefly, before he relaxed again.

"That's a good thing, isn't it?" Pogue stared incredulously at his friend. "If he doesn't remember then it's going to stay a secret. Just you and me know."

"No. No Caleb, I'm telling him." Pogue said. "He has to know about-"

Caleb cut Pogue off, shoving him against the wall beside the door, hands around the other male's throat. "Don't you dare." he hissed, his eyes flashing for a moment before he released his friend. Taking a step back, Caleb stared at the wall beside Pogue rather than meeting his gaze.

They were silent for a few moments, Pogue rubbing the tender flesh around his neck and staring at his friend and older brother in fear and confusion. Several nurses and interns around them were watching their interaction in a bothered and concerned fashion, though none intervened. Pogue figured it was best kept that way.

"I'm going in there, I'm going to tell him the same story you told the doctor and that will be the end of it. Reid wont ever know it was me if Tyler dies, do you understand?" Caleb hissed, well aware of the several bystanders watching them. "Good." he finished before Pogue could even answer.

Pogue stayed where he was, back pressed against the wall, as Caleb passed him and entered the room again. Caleb made his way to the bed, smiling sadly at Reid and grabbing the other boy's hand. Reid stared at Caleb, slightly confused at the change in behaviour between his friends, but allowed the touch anyway.

Caleb's thumb stroked the back of his hand as he spoke. "We're glad you're alright." he said. At Reid's hopeful look, Caleb grit his teeth momentarily before continuing. "Do you remember anything from Friday night?" he asked.

Reid shook his head. "All I remember is Tyler kicked Aaron's ass in blackball, but after you and Pogue came up it's all blurry for a bit. Then it just blacks out; I must have hit my head pretty hard then eh?" he chuckled. Caleb smiled slightly.

"Yeah you did; doc says that your right ankle will be a little bit painful to walk on, and you cant swim until your wrist and shoulder heal again. He also said that it might sting to shower seeing as you're covered in cuts and bruises, but they should heal soon enough." the raven said, smiling warmly at the blonde. Reid returned the smile, closing his eyes briefly and leaning back.

"Wait, where's Tyler?" he asked. Caleb lost his smile, looking down at his knees. "Caleb?"

"I should probably tell you what happened, or at least as much as any of us know." Reid nodded, but his brow was creased in worry now. "We went for a walk. I wasn't feeling too hot myself, but halfway you and Tyler headed back cause Tyler said he forgot something. When we came back, we found the two of you beaten and bloody." he said.

Reid's eyes widened, his hand clenching tightly around Caleb's. "What about Tyler? Tell me he's alright, Caleb. Please!" his voice rose, every muscle in his body was tense enough to snap with just the right amount of pressure.

"The doctors say he wont make it. He's in a coma, but without the life support he'd already be gone. He took a blow to the head and neck; if he ever does wake which could take years if the possibility is ever there, he'll have severe brain damage and paralysis. A nurse told me he may even be completely autistic." he admitted, watching Reid's eyes etch with horror as each word left his lips.

"No, no you're lying. He's not…he's not…oh god, please tell me you're lying." Reid's voice trailed off into a whisper, tears leaking over his cheeks. Caleb watched, not saying any more as the blonde shivered intensely and pulled his hand away to wrap his arms around himself.

The door opened, the doctor standing in the doorway calling quietly to Caleb. Reid slid onto his side on the bed, facing the wall and curling into himself, tears streaming down his face at an awkward angle. Closing his eyes, the blonde tried to sleep.

Behind closed eyes, he could only see Tyler's face.

* * *

**Act V**

"What's wrong, doc?" Pogue asked quietly. The man glanced over at Caleb.

"Tyler Simm's parents called, we gave them all the details we could. They're considering removing the life support, they'll call us back as soon as they've made their decision. I've already told them to finish their holiday before coming back here to finalise everything, but I just wished to alert you boys." he said, his eyes continuing to stay trained on Caleb between glancing down at his clipboard.

"But, we know Tyler's parents. They wont take him off the life support will they?" Pogue asked. The man shook his head.

"It's not for me to decide, young man. It's up to Tyler's parents, as he is still under eighteen. If he were over eighteen, It would be his chosen next of kin which his record states is claimed to be Reid Garwin. Speaking of, your friend is fine to go home come tomorrow morning. I would like it if at least one of you is here to sign him out and make sure he gets home alright."

"I'll do it." Caleb said. "I have a free period first thing tomorrow, I can come then." the doctor looked hesitant but nodded in understanding.

"Alright." he said. "Now, Pogue told me that Mister Simms and Mister Garwin were lovers. From what we have been able to tell, Mister Simms wont make it through this one, so I'm putting the condition of Mister Garwin's mental state in your hands, boys. If you believe that he may need therapy or counselling, I would like for you to bring him back to me." the doctor said.

Caleb laughed, shaking his head. The sound was a mix between mirth, incredulity and distaste. "Sorry, Doctor…" he paused, glancing at the doctor's nametag. "…Gestion, but I honestly don't think that Reid is going to want to come back here. I mean, how reliable can you be? You cant even keep his lover alive."

Caleb stormed off down the hall after sneering at the doctor one more time, pulsing heat and power radiating from his skin.

"I'll be sure to keep in touch, doc." Pogue said, apologetically, before taking off after his best friend. The doctor watched Caleb leave with a concerned frown, shaking his head and pushing into Reid's room. The boy lay on his side still, away from the door. He was asleep, finally.

Pulling the blankets back over the young man, the doctor sighed to himself. "For your sake, I hope Tyler pulls through."

* * *

**Act VI**

"You right?" Caleb asked as he opened the passenger car door, receiving a nod from the blonde who avoided his gaze.

Unbuckling his seatbelt, Reid slid out of the seat and turned his eyes to the ground immediately. He didn't say anything more as he went straight down toward his own apartment. Caleb grabbed the bags of food and other supplies he'd bought in town before going to get Reid, taking them with him and following the blonde.

Reid jabbed his keys into the lock, twisting it and opening the door, leaving it open behind him and going straight for the stairs. Caleb, who followed and kicked the door half-closed behind him to keep some of the cold air out, watched him ascend the stairs.

"I'm just gonna put these in the kitchen, alright Reid?" he said, doing as he said before coming back. Hand on the banister, he bent slightly to try and look up onto the second floor for any sight of the other warlock. "Reid?"

When he didn't get a reply, he made his way up the stairs slowly, each one creaking underneath his weight as he rose. Finally, rounding onto the second floor, he still couldn't see any sign of Reid, who'd made his way up moments ago.

Taking a few cautious steps, he approached the front window at the end of the hall, staring out of it and directly at his own apartment on the other end of the row. He turned his gaze to the one directly next door, Tyler's now vacant apartment.

Sighing to himself, he turned around, only to jump back in an exclamation of surprise when he seen Reid standing directly behind him. "Jesus Reid!" he gasped, hand clenched to his chest as he stared at the other blank-eyed male who was watching him in slight interest.

"Ready to go?" he said, his voice a faint mimic of what it once was. Caleb blinked, dark eyes watching his friend in bereft.

"Go where?" he asked.

"School." the blonde turned around, making his way toward the staircase, turning around the banister and making his way down again, steps falling heavily on the creaking wood. Caleb, still trying to calm his racing heart, making his way on shaky feet foreword.

Once again, he'd lost sight of Reid. Racing down the stairs, he was about to go for the door when Reid's voice came from behind him again. He forced himself not to jump this time, turning and facing the blonde who was leaning into the fridge, talking to himself about not having any cans of drink left.

The groceries were already stacked away, and Reid seemed to notice him suddenly. "There you are; I thought you got lost up there. I've been waiting five minutes man." he said, and Caleb believed him. His voice was tight and raspy when he next spoke.

"Yeah, sorry I was lost in thought." he could have sworn he wasn't up there five minutes, but he let it be.

Reid made a bored sound, making his way past the older boy and toward the door.

"Tyler does that a lot." he said, giving a pointed look in Caleb's direction. Caleb felt the sweat start to gather on his brow under that weighted stare, until finally the blonde looked away. "I'll be in the car. Make sure you close the door."

The moment Reid left his sight, Caleb felt his knees weaken and his body start to collapse under himself. Catching himself in time, he held himself upright with a hand on the edge of the small dining table. "He remembers…" he breathed. "He knows it was me, oh fuck what am I going to do?" he whispered to himself.

His eyes flickered around frantically, settling on a cork-board stuck on the wall with thumbtacks and sticky tape. Pinned on the board were photos of Tyler and Reid together, as well as a couple with all four of them.

One particular photo stood out the most. They weren't looking at the camera, he remembers Pogue taking it when they weren't paying attention. It captured them both better than most of the other ones; there weren't any artificial smiles or forced emotions. It was all them. Tyler was facing almost completely side on, in his fingers a white fluffy dandelion, a small red ladybeetle nestled on the top and his eyes on the blonde beside him. Reid, whose hand was over top of Tyler's, was staring at the bug in curiosity, but the smile on his face suggested he was wondering what would happen to it if he blew the seeds then.

The car horn startled him for the third time that day, and he sneered at the photo, storming out of the house and slamming the door shut after him. Sliding into the driver's seat of the car, he shut the door with an almost violent jerk, starting it up.

"Where were you, man?" Reid asked, but there was no expression on his face.

That was what had been scaring him; since yesterday, Reid hadn't shown a single expression. Yet some of the things he was saying, and some of the deep, intense looks he was giving suggested that maybe, just maybe, his memory had come back.

* * *

**Act VII**

"Are you sure you want to do this? We don't mind keeping him here."

'_No-no. You can't, you know why. We'll go through everything as planned when we get back.'_

"What about the other boy, Reid."

'_Oh dear, he'll be heartbroken even if…no we'll have to sort that out when we get home in a week.'_

"…and until then?"

'_Send him a message. Unfortunately he'll have to deal with this like the rest of us; I just hope he doesn't do anything stupid. He's like a son to me.'_

"Are you going to tell him?"

'…_no, he'll find out by himself…I hope.'_

"Very well. We'll organise the rest when you get home. Deepest apologies, Tarren."

* * *

**Act VIII**

Reid had expected the class to look up and stare when he entered the room behind his older brother; he wasn't disappointed.

The moment he stepped into the classroom, all eyes were on him. Caleb handed the teacher a note for Reid being out of uniform before moving up the stairs to his seat beside Pogue, who hissed under his breath.

"_Are you crazy? What's he doing here, he's still injured."_

"_I think he…Pogue I-"_

"Mister Perry, Mister Danvers, is there something you wish to share?" both shook his heads. "Now, I'm aware this is a rough time for you three boys," he said, glancing at Reid who threw himself into one of the two empty seats in his row, leaving the space where between him and the girl on the other end. "but I am not allowed to make exceptions in this class."

His eyes were still on Reid; the man was lying through his teeth.

Reid nodded at the teacher, taking out a pen and a notebook from his shoulder bag. The whole time he couldn't help but think to himself that he was sitting in Tyler's seat. He was aware that his classmates kept turning to look at him.

He must look a sight. His face was covered in at least twenty small but deep, sometimes wide cuts, and a few bruises were still evident. His left wrist was in a brace, and there was a bandage wrapped around most of his torso and right arm, though you could hardly tell it was there.

Aaron kept glancing over at him, shock written on his face. Reid realised the other boy probably just didn't expect to see the blonde this beat up knowing he'd been playing a game against him that same night.

The blonde figured he was doing pretty well to keep himself together, taking out a pencil and starting to scribble some random abstract pattern in his book. The teacher started the roll call. He absently called a raspy 'present' when his name was mentioned.

"_Pogue Parry,"_

"_Yeah"_

"_Joseph Right"_

"_Hn."_

"_Tyler Simms"_

The pencil in Reid's hand snapped, the top piece falling off his desk and hitting the wooden floor beside him, rolling down toward the steps. Once again the class's eyes turned to him, Aaron coughing awkwardly behind him.

Reid didn't even have the energy to be embarrassed; bending down to pick up the other useless piece of his pencil before grabbing the other piece and going back to his scribbling. Completely aware but caring not of his peers' attention being on him, he managed a simple reply.

"He's not here," he said, looking up finally and meeting the professor's eyes. "sir."

Caleb and Pogue stared at him for a bit longer than everyone else; he could feel their eyes on him. Whatever had happened to him and Tyler, he just knew they were guilty to some extent. He just didn't know what. He had been implying that he knew, trying to gauge their reactions in hopes of finding out more of the situation. But all he was doing was making himself think about the other boy too much.

As soon as the bell for class went, he was out of his seat faster than anyone else. Getting away from the stares and the whispers, he stormed out of the classroom, avoiding the cafeteria and heading straight outside. He needed air.

His heart was racing for some reason, and he skilfully avoided one of Aaron's friends who went to step in front of him and kept going. People were following him; he just didn't know who until he felt it. He felt Caleb's power again, and he knew it was his brothers.

He crossed the courtyard, throwing his bag onto the wet grass and falling like a boneless heap after it. Staring up at the sky, he could only wonder when the snow was going to start falling heavily. When Tyler woke, it would be white everywhere, like a new beginning. He'd like that.

Pogue and Caleb gave him space for the moment, and he was grateful for it. They took a seat on the stone benches across the yard, in clear sight of him. To the other side, he could see Kate and Sarah talking with some other girls, though Kate kept waving over at Pogue.

To the other side, Aaron and Kira were cuddling while his friends chatted up other girls and talked with one another about whatever it was they talked about. Other groups of nameless, faceless people stood around, most of them looking over at him from time to time. He didn't care.

But he was cold.

He sat up after laying there for maybe ten minutes, but something was wrong. His head was dizzy, and he thought it was from sitting up to quickly. Hand pressed to his head, ten seconds or so later and it still hadn't gone away. Shaking it off, he went to stand.

At first, everything felt numb, and he thought he was going to collapse. Instead, the sharp pains he got spiked up his legs briefly, and he bit his lip until they passed. It was just the cold; his body didn't like the cold. For some reason though, he couldn't believe that.

As he approached the steps to the building, his temples started to throb, and his heart felt like a bomb had gone off in his chest. He made it up the first step, his hand missing the rail as he felt for it. People were watching him again, but he didn't care. He just cared that he couldn't breathe.

His foot went to take another step, slipping off the edge and breath leaving his lungs as though someone had pressed on them and emptied them. He was vaguely aware of people shouting his name behind him.

His feet went from under him as he collapsed, face smacking the concrete, eyes closed and mind unconscious before he'd even hit the ground. His last lingering thought still echoed in his head as darkness crept close and snatched him up.

'_Something's wrong with Tyler.'  
_

_

* * *

_

**A/N: **Thankyou gunsAndROSES2656 for reviewing last chapter, and a special thanks to anonymous reviewer Pola for keeping track of the story and supporting it so much; thankyou millions both of you!

Say it now, say it now. I'm evil.I can only think of is how painful it is to hit your face on concrete before the rest of your body; it hurts a lot, and even looks bad enough to make me squeamish when I see someone else do it. Anyway, the conversation part was between Tarren Simms (Tyler's mother) and Doctor Gestion over the phone, just so everyone's up to date with that.

Anywho, **spreading** the **BabyboyxReid love**, I have another story that's less about everything else (as my last two have been) and more focussed on the relationship developing between the two of them coming out soon, it's called **'Lucky Me'** and will be roughly anywhere between eight and twelve chapters. Reid and Tyler are a little sarcastic and unkind toward one another in that story, though, and have a habit of not saying everything they're thinking, or in Reid's case just saying the wrong thing in general.

I may be few and far between with updating after these holidays are up; I have School Certificate exams I have to prepare for and novels to finish. But still, I spread the love with the upcoming seasons, and I wish everyone else luck with their lives and hope only the best of happiness on all my kind readers.

**Take care**  
**MK**


	4. IV: Three Steps Left Of Center

**The Last Heart  
MyurraK**

_**From the Ugliest of Crimes comes the most Beautiful and Deadly of them all**_

**Chapter IV  
Three Steps Left Of Center**

**Act I**

_Bloody hell that's freezing,_ was Reid's first conscious thought, groaning and raising a hand to knock whatever it was away from his face. He felt thin fingers enclose around his wrist, and he lowered his hand hesitantly.

"Is he awake?" he recognised the voice; it was Kate. He groaned again.

"Yes, he is awake." Reid cut in, straining and opening his eyes. He was laying on something hard and slightly cold, after a moment he realised it was one of the stone benches in the courtyard. To one side, Sarah was holding a couple of pieces of ice in a handkerchief and pressing them to his face.

Reid pushed them away, forcing himself to sit up despite the protests of Kate, Sarah and Pogue. There were a few other students standing around; none he recognised by name, but his friends were close enough to touch him and fussing over him.

Finally sitting upright, he stared down at his knees, hands on the edge of the bench as though he were going to push himself up again. His hands suddenly tightened around the stone, a pain-filled moan sounding from behind closed lips.

"You right, man?" Pogue asked, his hand resting on the blonde's shoulder.

"Give me the ice." he hissed in return, Sarah chuckling nervously as she handed them over to him. Reid stared at them in his hand for a moment, before slapping them against his cheek and holding them there. "Someone better have the license plate of whatever hit me." Reid snarled, hissing as he edged the ice away from a cut on his face that was still trying to heal.

"Well, I have a description." Kate started. "It was grey, innocent, incredibly strong and potentially dangerous when one tends to pass out cold on it." she finished. Reid looked over at her. "Seriously, you scared us! What happened?"

Reid froze, flinching away from Pogue's hand suddenly. They frowned, but Reid didn't meet any of their eyes. "I uh…I couldn't breath and my heart felt like it had exploded. I don't even remember hitting the ground; the last thing I remember is my foot sliding off the edge of the step."

"Yeah, well you hit the concrete face-first then didn't move. I'm surprised your jaw didn't break." Sarah gushed. Reid resisted the urge to glare at something; his face really hurt.

Suddenly, in the corner of his vision, Reid saw someone approaching. Looking up, he jolted back down the chair only slightly at the sight of who it was. Caleb, a hand over his mouth and the other staring at his closed phone, was walking toward them.

"Who was it?" Sarah asked her ex-boyfriend, blinking innocently toward him. His hand rubbed over his face again, and he blindly sat down beside Reid. Without answering her straight away, he turned to the blonde, slightly surprised to see Reid was staring at him as though he'd grown another head.

"Are you alright now, Reid?" the blonde's mind turned back to a memory, as though he were living it again;

_It was night, the alley was cold and damp and the distinct smell of rats and alcohol was mingled with the fresh scent of blood. Caleb was there, teeth gritted and bared and eyes black and violent in a show of vicious intent. The bloodlust in that voice was unmistakable; he could see the insanity in those lifeless eyes. _

Shivering, Reid shook his head slightly at himself before turning his eyes to the present Caleb who was staring at him in concern. "Y-yeah." his voice, though barely there, cracked in a show of his discomfort. The blonde felt hopelessly vulnerable with Pogue to one side and Caleb on the other.

Caleb nodded, staring back down at his phone. "That was doctor Gestion." he said. Reid's brow furrowed, before remembering that was the name of the doctor that had been taking care of him at the hospital. Caleb must have gotten a call when he was unconscious.

"And Tyler?" Pogue asked, tone wavering in uncertainty. Another memory;

_Sprawled on the cold unforgiving concrete, the taste of sour dread on his lips as he stared up at his friend. The boy was twisted at an odd angle, his neck bent back over the step and facing him upside-down. _

_The beautiful, teary and pained opal eyes met his, creased in plea, before they started to close. The boy managed a groan, and Reid could see those lips were stained with blood. Those eyes closed and dark blood melted from behind the younger boy's hair, running down the stairs. _

_He reached out, his pale hand looking close enough to touch him as he whispered his friend's name. 'Tyler?'_

_'__Don't say his name!'_

"They're taking off the life-support." Reid dropped the ice, turning the attention to him. Pogue went to reach out to him, but Reid pulled away and shoved past Kate.

"No, don't touch me!" he shouted at the older boy, standing back away from him. Kate, still kneeling before him on the ground, reached up to grab his arm which was crossed before his body ready to strike out if he needed. His eyes never left Pogue's, and he absently registered Kate stroking his arm gently.

Pulling his arm away from her, but still not turning away from Pogue, Reid felt something in his temples throbbing again. It wasn't painful this time; in fact it may have been a slightly pleasant sensation. Kate's hand was on the front of his jacket, but her voice was lost to him.

He turned away, storming out of the courtyard with a hand to his throbbing cheek and blindly making his way toward the bathrooms.

Sarah turned to Kate, who looked slightly upset. The darker girl had never experienced failure at placating someone before, and it being Reid only made it worse. The girls were close to everyone within the Covenant, and aside from Pogue and Kate's love for one another they really felt like siblings most of the time.

"He really loved Tyler, didn't he." Sarah murmured, hoping to explain their friend's actions to her roommate. Caleb sucked in a harsh breath that sounded like a hiss, gaining their attention. He lowered his gaze, muttering a lie about biting his tongue accidentally.

"I think he remembers what happened to him." he said, knowing that the statement would mean one thing to the girls and a whole different thing to Pogue. When he raised his eyes, Pogue had gone almost completely white. "He may have well as said as much when I brought him to school this morning."

"We have to find him." Pogue said suddenly, startling the girls who had been in their own thought.

"Baby, I think he wants to be on his own right now." Kate said, frowning up at her boyfriend. Pogue shook his head, stepping away from them.

"No, you don't understand. He cant be on his own, Caleb and I have to talk to him." Sarah exchanged a glance with Kate.

"There's something you two aren't telling us." she said plainly. Pogue went to go after Reid, but Caleb's hand shot out so quickly they'd hardly even seen him move. He was still staring at his closed phone when he spoke.

"Leave it." Kate could have sworn she seen something like fear flicker over her boyfriend's face before shuttering back into his regular expression of neutrality. He sighed, slowly pulling his hand out of his best friend's grip.

"Okay Caleb."

Kate didn't miss how his eyes stayed on Caleb until the older boy turned around, before turning in the direction of Reid, as though judging how far he'd get if he ran.

* * *

**Act II**

He barely made it to the bathroom before the tears made their way down his face. Sure, he was in pain, but that wasn't why he was crying. He was crying because a bomb really had gone off in his heart.

He'd known there was something wrong with Tyler the moment he started to feel unwell.

Hands on the rim of the basin, he gasped out a loud sob, tears trekking down his face. His heart was throbbing loudly in his chest, flesh burning and muscles quivering. The polished porcelain cracked and crumbled, peeling away in a fine layer under his fingertips, leaving a rough underside that cut at his fingers.

Aware his fingers were bleeding, he absently thought about how he'd go about treating them before he realised he simply didn't care. His forehead hit the mirror, though the glass didn't crack.

"Why…why us of all people, Ty?" he breathed, calming his shuddering sobs until it was just tears running down his skin.

The door opened, Reid jolting out of his shock and glancing up at the mirror, pulling his forehead away from the reflective glass so that he could focus. Aaron stood to the side of the door, pulling his arm away as it slung shut so it wouldn't hit him.

"Reid?" he asked, frowning. Reid turned his eyes from Aaron's reflection, glaring at the silver stretched reflection on the tap and handles. In the distorted image, he seen Aaron's hand reaching out for him, looking oddly magnified.

He flinched away subconsciously, deterring the older boy's touch. "Get out." he hissed, voice trembling. Aaron snorted, Reid looking up in time to see the brunette's upper lip twitch before twisting into a forced sneer.

"Hn, whatever fag." he said, without any real malice. "Wash your face before someone sees you; you look pathetic."

Reid loosely decoded it as _'This is going to be bloody if I stay. I wont say anything, but you better get yourself together before someone else comes.'_ He didn't even blink as Aaron grabbed the handle to the door, leaving without another word.

Reid still caught the pitying, confused look his nemesis shot over his shoulder. _Pity from Aaron Abbot. _He thought. _That's all I need._

Doing as the other boy had said, he washed his face and wiped it on the lower hem of his shirt to dry it, slipping into a cubical and sitting on the lowered toilet lid. His hands were shaking and his chest was still burning and aching; as though someone had peeled back his skin and lit his ribs on fire.

He spent the next two periods of class reading the morbid and obscene comments on each wall and the door surrounding him several times. Perhaps he felt better immersing himself in other people's sad, angry lives, or perhaps such a boring repetitive thing would numb his senses after a while.

His finger twitched suddenly, a sharp pain shooting through it.

* * *

**Act III**

Reid strolled into the fifth class of the day. He'd missed the first, arrived in time for the second and skipped the second two. There was only this class; Ancient Literature Study, and the last class, Creative Writing.

Once again, all eyes were on him. He was aware that half of his face was now bruised, angry blacks and blues while the outside faded to sickly green and irritated red. Two or three cuts on his face had re-opened and were still tender, while the others were scabbed and still painful-looking.

His hair was a mess, and his eyes were red-rimmed. The teacher didn't even chastise him for coming into class late thanks to his appearance. He took the first vacant seat, right at the front of the class. The boy in the seat next to him moved over to give him more room, but watched him warily as well.

"Mister Parry, one poet we've studied from the nineteenth century, please." the teacher said, picking up where he'd obviously left off. Reid flinched when he heard Pogue's name.

"Arthur Rimbaud."

Reid took a shuddering breath when he heard the answer; Rimbaud had been one of Tyler's favourite subjects of the class. He had little pieces of the man's poetry scrawled on paper and pinned up around his apartment, he had them scribbled over notebooks and written in the back of them. He was intrigued by the man's 'voice' as the teacher had called it; said he always had a way of describing things that made them seem so real.

"And what is one of your favourite verses he had ever written, Mister Parry. In French if you will."

"Crispe ses petits doigts sur son fémur qui craque, Avec des cris pareils à des ricanements," Reid tensed, another memory rushing to him.

_The ground gave way under his fingers, damp soggy newspaper leaflets bunching under his fingers as he tried to pull himself up. Pebbles and pieces of glass stuck threateningly into his palms, blood oozing from punctures and cuts. _

_His eyes turned skywards, though he only seen looming buildings shimmering with wet bricks and boxes, poles and wires jutting out of shadows. Out of strain, he looked further toward the ground, and he seen Tyler on his back beside him, groaning and staring up at the bricks in a daze. _

_Reid spat oily street water out of his mouth, coughing, before he heard Tyler's breath hitch violently beside him. The other boy was suddenly off the ground, feet dragging across it, glass shards tinkering as they were moved. Just past the shape of Tyler's legs dangling in the air, he could see Caleb, arm up in the air directing the power, pitch eyes gleaming dully and teeth gritted. _

_Behind him, Pogue stood sheet white, arms falling down by his sides from where they had been grabbing at Caleb's jacket. His eyes met Reid's, and the blonde sent a silent plea at him. __**Please, help him!**_

_Pogue simply stared at him, and Reid knew then that there was only one answer to his cry for help. __**I can't.**__ There was no apology in his eyes, not even when Tyler gasped out a sentence and Caleb, angered more, threw him toward the stairs, cracking his neck against the rails and the steps. _

"Et, comme un baladin rentre dans la baraque, Rebondit dans le bal au chant des easements." the words had been said easily enough, but several times he'd paused as though trying to remember them. The teacher looked impressed, smiling and turning to the chalkboard. Reid turned his eyes from his hands up at Pogue, who was staring directly at him.

"Ah, a good choice. Translation, if you will, Miss Wenham." the blonde girl bit her lip, scrawling something on the paper before her quickly before reading from it.

"Clenches his knuckles on his thighbone with a crack, uttering cries like mocking laughter, and then like a mountebank into his booth, skips back into the dance to the music of the bones." she said, blinking over at the teacher to check it was correct. He nodded, his chalk clacking against the board.

"That is correct. The poem, 'Dance of the Hanged Men'." he said, pushing his small glasses up the bridge of his nose as he turned around. On the board, there was one word; Essay. "I want you to all to choose a favorite poet, a _real_ one Mister Abbot," he walked over to his desk. "I have an entire textbook of them here if you need any suggestions. I want you to make a collage out of this poet's work; take sentences, verses or even entire poems and mix them together. Change some of the words if you must." he said.

Kate rose her hand, and the professor gave her a calculated look before answering her with a nod. "Sir, is there a guideline to this essay?" she asked.

"Of course, Miss Tunney. This collage is to mean something important to you, base it on any deep or strong emotions you've felt as of late even. It will be read to the class with a short speech before it as to what it is about and why you wrote it. It is due in a week's time, no exceptions."

Reid felt a funny feeling in his stomach when he thought over the assignment, having no clue as to where he was to start.

He ignored the rest of the people around him and decided to go straight home. Though he didn't take a car, he'd just walk; he didn't live that far away after all. His feet dragged the whole while, and it took him almost an hour to reach the gates that lead up to the Sons' homes. The thought of the assignment nagged at him, and when he got to the door to his apartment finally he almost didn't realise the note stuck to his door, too deep in thought.

* * *

**Act IV**

He held the small white envelope in his hand, the sticky tape that had been used to secure it curled around his finger weakly. He kicked the door shut behind him, not caring that it slammed. His stomach was curling into itself with nerves as he stared at the envelope.

His keys slid off the dining table in the kitchen with a loud jingle and clatter against the tiles, his school bag slid off his chair and hit the floor heavily, but he noticed neither. He leaned against the counter, eyes flicking up to the pin board above the electric jug.

There was something wrong with one of the photos; it was of the four of them. It wasn't anything that he should have noticed, because the photo had always been like that, but something nagging at him told him that it was wrong.

Shuddering, he pinched the envelope experimentally when he realised something was inside it, something bulky and hard. He moved into the lounge room, leaning back against the backrest of the couch and slid his finger under the flap.

Sliding the letter out, the single word 'Sorry' was scrawled in neat watery calligraphy. His hand was shaking now, and he tipped the envelope upside down. A single ring fell out; the same one Tyler's mother had given the boy; a silver band with a green stone in the middle, two small silver hearts molded either side of it along the band.

He stared at it as it rest in his palm, before shakily reaching over to the cordless phone that was sitting neglected on his coffee table before him. Picking it up, he shakily dialed the number he didn't know how he remembered, biting his lower lip in concern.

"_You have reached Ipswich Public Hospital, how can I help you?_" the woman secretary on the other end asked. Reid swallowed thickly, opening his mouth to answer her when he remembered what Caleb had said that afternoon.

_They're taking off the life-support._

He cleared his throat. "Um, I'm calling about Tyler Simms. He's an E.R patient from Friday night." he said, biting his lip nervously.

"_Sure thing, sweetie. I'll just check for you._" she said cheerfully. Reid could hear her fingers rapping away at the keyboard on the other end, and he waited patiently and nervously. Finally, when she spoke up, her voice sounded confused and wary. "_Um, I'll just be a moment honey. I have to check something. What was your name again?_"

"Garwin." he said flatly. She cleared her throat, excusing herself. He could hear her chair scrape along the floor in her haste, before everything went silence. He felt as though he were waiting an eternity before she came back.

This time, there was none of her cheer and her voice wavered in apprehension, as though there was something she wasn't telling him. "_I'm sorry, Mister Garwin,_" his throat seized; there were no more pet names and everything suddenly seemed cold and distant. "_Young Mister Simms was taken off life support a couple of hours ago_." she said.

He didn't say anything else before his thumb hit the end-call button.

* * *

**Act V**

Caleb knocked on Reid's door only once, standing deathly still as it swung open on its own with the force. He swallowed, the inside of his mouth feeling as though it were coated in a metallic or soapy substance, his saliva thick and bitter.

He stepped into the building, glancing around the foyer and into the lounge room, then to the other side to glance at the kitchen. No one was there.

There was a certain anger inside him, as though Reid should have been there, should be expecting him and should be with him at all times. Caleb made his way up the stairs, never minding their groaning under his weight and speed. Finally at the top, he turned around, catching sight of the blonde finally.

Reid was at the front window, staring out into the night with hands on either of his elbows, exactly the same place Caleb had been that morning, only he wasn't trying to see the other houses. He was trying to see around them.

Caleb set his jaw and approached the blonde, loosing his anger and feeling a great surge of pity and affection work through him. "Reid." he sighed dejectedly, wrapping his arms around the blonde's waist and resting his chin on the younger boy's shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"I'm warmer now." was all Reid said, but his voice was flat, falling on Caleb's shoulders like a dead weight. He'd never considered how hard it would be to work Reid out of the pit of pain his older brother had dug for him, and the only thing any one else had thrown down to help him make his way up with was another shovel.

They stood like that for ages, Caleb's fingers tracing the shape of Reid's hips with his fingers, occasionally working their way under the hem of Reid's shirt and brushing cool alabaster skin. Reid barely even shuddered, simply staring out the window.

Finally, he said "What are you doing, Caleb." as though he knew but didn't. Caleb stepped back, hands moving to Reid's shoulders, sliding down his upper arms slowly.

"I'm just being here for you, Reid. I know you're having a hard time-"

"Do you." Reid deadpanned, as Caleb's hands finally found his own where they were still resting on his own elbows, threading their fingers together. Caleb was about to say something when he felt the cold biting of metal between his fingers.

Turning Reid's hand in the light, he spotted Tyler's ring set comfortably on Reid's middle finger, glinting in the light. The power burned in his chest and behind his eyes, and before he knew what he'd done he turned Reid around and pushed the blonde's back against the wall, hand either side of the younger warlock's head.

Their eyes met, and Caleb could see how fierce and broken Reid's were behind all that neutrality. It only made him angrier, a low growl rumbling from his throat.

"Why do you love him." Caleb seethed, unable to help himself. Reid's eyes flickered to something behind Caleb's head, before turning to him again.

"I don't have to explain myself to you." Caleb ignored his reply.

"Tyler is dead, Reid. You are going to move on, and when you do, I'll be here. Even if I have to force you to, you will move on." he hissed. Finally, Reid's eyes flashed angrily. He reached up, shoving Caleb away from him.

"You_ killed_ him. _You killed_ him! I've tried to understand you, Caleb. I let you touch me and I let you talk to me as though nothing has ever happened, but I wont put up with it any more! You sicken me!" he shouted, knocking Caleb's hands away when they reached for him.

Caleb's eyes flashed, and he tried again with one hand this time. When Reid went to push him away, his other hand shot out and grabbed both of the blonde's wrists, pinning them above his head on the wall. He grabbed Reid's chin, turning the blonde's fiery chipped gaze toward him.

"You can't love a corpse, Reid." he said, the sharp edge undeniable in his words.

"Watch me." the now youngest son returned, ducking below Caleb's eye-level and yanking both his arms down, cracking his elbows to the older brother's neck. Caleb flinched in pain, letting Reid's wrists go. Reid went to move to the side, only to have Caleb grab his shirt collar and lift him up, stopping him from escaping.

"That wasn't very nice." he hissed, and pressed his cold lips to Reid's own. The blonde stopped struggling, petrified against the wall in shock. Caleb couldn't help but think that maybe Reid hadn't guessed all of it yet. He pulled away from the younger boy, hands firmly on the blonde's shoulders though he looked too scared to even try and move away.

Reid's lips finally parted and words left his lips numbly. "You didn't just lose control; you wanted to lose control. He's dead because…" he couldn't finish the sentence. Caleb grinned, black eyes glittering in the light that filtered through the window beside them, his white teeth perfect and his canines sharp.

"Because of you. I killed him, because I wanted you."

Reid's eyes widened in horror, and he pressed himself violently against the wall, trying to get away from the situation he was in. Trying to get away from the truth as it slid from his leader's lips. It was his fault, because he was the one who loved Tyler, and didn't notice that Caleb wanted him for himself.

Caleb let out a chuckle, straightening his back and kicking his ankle to the side. With his grip on Reid's shoulders, he pulled the blonde closer and moved his ankle behind him, tripping them both to the floor. Reid landed on his back, Caleb straddling his stomach with a hand on the blonde's wrists, pinning them above him.

"You will move on." he hissed, a hand reaching behind himself to the hem of Reid's jeans, fingers dipping just below the waistband, revelling in how the blonde's eyes lit in fear and disbelief. Caleb moved his hand before it taunted the other boy too much, pressing it over Reid's pale lips and dipping his head, breath brushing Reid's ear. "Even if I have to force you to."

Reid made a noise of protest, Caleb chuckling gently. Moving his hand so that it was just a finger resting over Reid's lips. He traced each of them, aware of Reid's deep speedy breaths, the way his eyes remained fixated on Caleb's face despite the older boy being transfixed on watching how Reid's lips parted when his finger passed over them.

"Don't worry, I'll give you time, little brother." he said gently. He kissed Reid briefly, standing and walking away without another look back.

Reid simply lay on the floor, one hand covering his mouth and the other strewn weightlessly over his own stomach where Caleb had been sitting. The moment he heard the door downstairs shut, a ruthless sob tore from his lips, tears leaking from the corners of his eyes and getting lost on the carpet as he rolled over onto his side, curling into himself.

"Tyler! Where are you!" he screamed, pounding his fist into the floor once, sleep suddenly swallowing him whole without wasting any time.

* * *

**A/N:** Wow, I'm horrible to you poor readers who just want Tyler to wake up and Caleb to go die under a rock; but I will give you a hint - **THIS ISN'T THE END, FAR FROM IT**.

It's just under half way through the story; so i'm estimating about nine chapters in total if it goes to plan. But remember, **not everything is as it seems**.

**A personal note;** dearest anonymous readers Kaysi and Pola, I love you both so much - you make my writing for this category worthwhile; please get accounts so I can reply to you! (And Kaysi, your email didn't show up in the message probably because it was written as a direct link so I couldnt reply to you). Same goes for everyone who reviews my stories, you all make it worthwhile and keep me from losing interest, I love all of you!

Long weekend; I've been sneezing all morning because I've cleaned my desk (I hate cleaning, I do it compulsively every few months and thats it) and I've got dust all over me. I've been trying to clean up because I'm getting full blast into my novels right now and I need the space for sticking up pictures and spreading out notebooks and laptops. I'm only using the demo of WriteItNow 4.0 so I cant turn my laptop off, just put in in hibernate - my dad hates that XD. Anyway, if you want to know more about my novels (which are written with a lot more care than my stories) then just PM me and ask me about it, I could always use the support since no one I know IRL gives to shits about my writing.

Hope you all enjoyed the update; thanks for reading!

**Take care,**  
**MK**


	5. V: Wrapped Around The Neck

**The Last Heart  
MyurraK**

_**From the Ugliest of Crimes comes the most Beautiful and Deadly of them all**_

**Chapter V  
Wrapped Around The Neck**

**Act I**

"What do you think happened to him?" Sarah asked, staring over at their friend. She and Kate were in the library researching for their assignment from Ancient Literature Studies. They had spotted Reid sitting on one of the window seats, knees up and a closed book resting on them, eyes trained on the glass, watching as snow fell and gathered in the grooves of the window pane.

It had been two days since they discovered Tyler had been taken off life support, and Reid hadn't spoken since that afternoon when he'd fallen unconscious. He just stared out the window in class, barely even acknowledged that he was in school, and always tensed whenever Pogue or Caleb came near him.

"It must have been bad." Kate said, staring at the blonde. "Hey Sarah, I cant believe I'm saying this, I mean it's totally stupid and you're probably going to wonder why I'd even think that, but…" she paused, giving a sad look down at her hands folded on her lap. "…do you think that, maybe, it might have been Pogue and Caleb?" she said, raising her eyes.

Sarah was silent for a moment, staring incredulously at Kate. "Why would you say that?" she hissed, shaking her head slowly.

"Well, I'm guessing probably more Caleb than Pogue. But…come on Sarah, you had to have seen how he looks at them. He stares at them during class sometimes with the most…betrayed look on his face. He's so jumpy around them, too. I seen Caleb put his hand on Reid's shoulder this morning, and the kid froze, like Caleb was holding a knife to his throat or something."

Sarah shook her head. "He's probably just reminded of Tyler. He'll be fine, it will pass." Kate's eyes twitched up to her, she slammed the hard cover book before her shut and glared hard at her friend. The blonde girl swallowed thickly, staring at her dark-skinned friend.

"Reid loved Tyler. And if Caleb did anything to hurt them, so help me God, I will destroy him." she seethed. Sarah returned the glare.

"I thought you just said that Pogue could be to blame as well." Kate stood, the chair she had been sitting on skidding back and toppling over.

"Caleb is over you, Sarah. Get used to it quickly, because there's something wrong with Caleb and you don't want to get messed up in it. Pogue is scared of him, and Reid's scared of them both. Whatever has happened here, I'm going to find out. Whether I love Pogue or not, if I find out he's to blame I'll kill him myself."

Sarah barely even had a chance to blink before Kate was stalking out of the library, books and bag in hand, dark hair flicking over her shoulder and her stride long and purposeful. Sarah chanced a quick look back over at the window, and unsurprisingly, Reid was gone.

* * *

**Act II**

Reid was running, and somewhere inside he knew the direction he wanted to go in, but then again he didn't. He just wanted to get away. He had seen Kate and Sarah's argument in the library and decided he didn't want to be near when Pogue started investigating what it was that got his woman all worked up. He'd taken off toward the dormitories to start with, but decided instead to keep running.

His feet knew the path as though he'd trod it a thousand times. He ducked below branches, watched out for buttress roots that rose from the earth and avoided the heaps of melted snow. It had warmed a few degrees and was no longer snowing but raining instead, and the water was coming down heavier and heavier every moment.

Soon enough, he had made it out of the scrub that trailed behind the town and into the forest. It was so easy to get lost in the woods. Everyone warned of the dangers of the woods, but they never warned of the trees. Each one looked the same, and they seemed to move when you looked back and the path you were sure you'd just came along was no longer there.

It was trickery of the worst sort. When they were children, their parents told them to take a can of spray paint and mark the trees you passed so that when you wanted to find your way home again you could. Of course, the forest that their manors backed onto were nothing like the ones that fringed the roadside and crawled up the mountains.

These ones were dense, packed together. The trees loomed, claustrophobia gnawing at your conscience. It was enough to make you loose your breath before you'd even started to walk. It was enough to drive you mad.

Reid coughed, his lungs burning and his legs aching. Getting the hint his body was trying to tell him, he pressed his back to a tree and sat down, ignoring the mud seeping through his pants and the rain falling into his eyes.

It seemed so familiar, that horrible dreading déjà vu you get when you can hardly remember but you just know it somewhere. He wrapped his arms around himself. "You lied, Tyler."

* * *

**Act III**

They were sixteen, and it was getting closer to Reid's seventeenth birthday. He had an argument with his father after the man found his report card he'd so cleverly hidden in clear sight on his desk that morning, telling himself he'd put it somewhere his parents would never find it.

The report card wasn't bad, no it was the complete opposite. The grades were excellent, the best he'd ever gotten. And he didn't want his parents to know. But of course, his father had found them anyway.

After the argument, Reid had run off into the woods behind the manor, taking all kinds of twists and turns, keeping his mind completely blank and trying to get himself lost. What good was having intelligence if you couldn't even find your way out of your garden, after all.

He was deep into the forest now, no doubt on someone else's property. He figured he should have expected someone to come after him, but he still jumped when Tyler called out his name from a few feet away.

"Reid! There you are, I knew you'd be out here somewhere." Tyler grinned, not even bothered that it was raining or that the sky was a dark shade of indigo, that shadows were looming up around them and everything glittered with the last few moments of light that broke though the clouds above them. Figures that their Baby Boy wasn't the one who was still afraid of the dark.

"How'd you find me?" Reid gasped, still out of breath from running. Tyler smiled and didn't reply, raindrops glistening down his face as he came and sat down on the ground beside the blonde. Reid, not knowing what else he could do, sat down as well.

"Wanna talk about it?" he said after a while, breaking what had been a long comfortable silence broken only by the pattering of thick drops of rainwater falling around them and smattering against the leaf litter. "And don't even think about telling me nothing is wrong. I know you."

"I know you do, babe. But…" Reid started, trailing off. Tyler smiled, but it was barely there in comparison to his last smile.

"They found it, didn't they. They found your report." Reid nodded. "What happened?"

"My dad was proud of me, and I got in a fight with him over it." Tyler was silent, but rested his head against Reid's shoulder, offering support. "You don't know what it's like, Ty. To walk into class and just see the teacher's sneer. They look at me like I'm something horrible, something stupid. It's like I'm just going to school because my parents paid to get rid of me, not because I learn anything."

"But you did good this time, Reid. How is it a bad thing?" Reid shrugged Tyler off his shoulder, shifting away and glaring out in front of him.

"It's a slap in the face to work so hard all these years to be something I'm not, and only when I finally give up do I get anywhere. I worked so hard to improve myself; I studied, I stopped using, you know I did. And suddenly, as though I realised I'd never get anywhere, I gave up. And now look. It's all over for me now, I don't want to be what I'm not but now I have no choice."

Tyler frowned. "I don't get it. What's the problem with it?"

"Of course you don't get it! You're actually smart, you're actually going to go somewhere. This is just some sort of cruel game. God keeps spitting on me for some reason, and he has really good aim. Nothing goes the way I want it to. I'm not going to go anywhere, Ty. I'm not like you, you're too good for me."

He turned back to Tyler, and the raven was unable to tell if the older warlock was crying or if it was just the rain in his eyes. He went to hold a hand up to Reid's cheek, but the blonde pushed his hand away. Tyler bit back his hurt and waited.

"I finally give up, and suddenly everything comes to me without even trying. And the moment I believe that I can do this, it's all going to leave me again, because that's how the world works for me. I get a good thing, and then I want to keep it, and it leaves."

Tyler bit his lower lip, reaching out and grabbing Reid's hand. "I'm not leaving. I'm never leaving." Reid's gaze swiveled back to Tyler, two different shades of blue locking. Reid smiled suddenly, a small laugh escaping his lips. A hand went to Tyler's cheek, wiping away the water, before going to Tyler's forehead and brushing away his damp bangs.

He lent over, kissing Tyler softly. The familiar spark pressed through them, heat against the cold. Tyler, ignoring the chill in the air, the water that rolled over their skin and the smell of damp earth, pulled Reid over him as he fell back onto the ground, wrapping himself around the blonde.

"I'll never leave you, ever." Tyler whispered, pressing another kiss to the older boy's lips.

* * *

**Act IV**

"Cay, are you sure about this?" Pogue asked, glancing around warily. The older warlock turned to him, dark eyes turned even darker with power and something else that Pogue was too scared to even think about. Caleb pulled the latch to the fire escape, letting the iron gate swing open with a loud screech.

"Reid isn't home and Tyler's dead. We have a right to go through our friend's things." he reasoned.

"If he was our friend, then why did you kill him?" the words were out before he could stop them. Pogue slapped both hands over his mouth, staring at Caleb in horror. The older male turned back to him, teeth gritted and bared, dark eyes narrowed, beads of rain rolling down the side of his face and the ends of his hair sticking to his pale skin.

"You first." he said through gritted teeth, stepping aside. Pogue shuddered, slipping past Caleb and racing up the first few steps. The fifth step from the top groaned and wobbled under his foot, the bolt on one side was loose, hanging out dangerously. Pogue swallowed, a thick metallic taste welling in his mouth, and he eased his whole weight onto the step before shifting it to the stable one above it.

"Uh, watch your step." he said quietly, not looking back before making it to the top of the first lot of stairs. Caleb didn't reply, leaping up over the dangerous step and landing on the small metal platform beside Pogue.

"Keep going." Caleb said, a hand gripping the guard rail, finding it too slippery and removing it again. He examined the pieces of chipped black paint on his hand, shoving Pogue with the other to get him moving. Pogue rounded the platform, grabbing the guard rail when he nearly slipped, and made his way up the second set of steps. This time, it was the second step from the top that appeared warped and dented.

He pointedly avoided the suspicious looking step, making it up onto the final platform of the fire escape, right beside the bedroom window to Tyler's apartment. He brought his hands to his mouth, breathing into them and rubbing them together, trying to warm them from the numbness he felt throughout his whole body.

Caleb was beside him, not looking at him as he knelt down in front of the window. His hands rest on the brick sill, eyes flashing as he Used to unlock the window from the inside. Pogue glanced around quickly, eyes settling on the window directly across from where he was standing that showed directly into Reid's bedroom.

Caleb hissed as the lock on the window clicked and the frame jolted upward suddenly, wood clacking against wood as it opened completely. "Come on." and he slid inside, one leg first. In the darkness, he almost tripped over what seemed to be a toppled over chair, but he steadied himself and helped Pogue through. The younger boy had a larger build than him after all, and not much balance.

"Shit, I cant see anything. I'll get the light." he said, but Caleb's hand on his arm stopped him.

"If Reid gets back before we leave he'll know something's wrong. We cant turn on the lights." he said, stepping over to the front of the room and opening the heavy curtains. "That's better." Pogue glanced around, feeling his heart jolt when he seen there was a photo of just him and Caleb framed on the wall, right beside one of the four of them.

He moved to examine it, grinding his teeth in anger when he seen how right the four of them looked together as friends. They were perfect, they filled out one another's flaws and helped keep one another on the right track. He glanced over at Caleb and felt a strange sadness in his chest.

Caleb would never be on the right track again.

"What are we looking for?" he asked finally, getting Caleb's attention. Caleb's dark eyes scanned the room first, before settling on the video camera that he'd seen Tyler and Reid using the week before.

"Anything at all. I want to know more about him, I want to see what Reid seen." he said, reaching out for the camcorder. Without looking at Pogue, he grabbed the cord beside it and used it to plug the device into the television that sat nestled in the corner away from the mess of strewn clothes and text books.

The device beeped, before giving several options. Caleb felt Pogue come and stand beside him as he pressed 'play from first scene'.

Caleb sat down on the ground and watched, one hand over his mouth and the other holding the camcorder, thumb resting on the power button lightly, as though preparing for anything to show up on the screen.

There was a few seconds of interference, before it opened up on Reid's face. It was obviously being handheld, as the image shook a few times before focussing and steadying as best as possible.

Reid was smiling, rolling his eyes. _'Ty, what are you doing?'_

'_Filming.'_

'_I got that,'_ Reid said, huffing and turning away to stare out the window. _'I meant 'why' but whatever.'_

Tyler's hand moved and the image moved closer to Reid. _'Well, I just thought it would be fun. I mean, it's not like we're going to be this young forever, right?'_

Reid glanced at him, smirking. _'Are you thinking what I'm thinking?'_ he said lowly. Tyler zoomed the picture out, and Reid grabbed the zipper of his jacket, pulling it down slowly. Tyler laughed.

'_No, definitely not.'_

The screen blacked for a moment, and another scene started. Caleb looked uncomfortable, but Pogue was mildly interested in why the two youngest brothers started filming all of a sudden, and what it was they filmed.

This time, it was Reid who was filming. Tyler was standing in the bathroom in a pair of black silk boxers, hair mussed and eyes half closed while he was brushing his teeth. _'Rise and shine, baby boy.'_ just by hearing Reid's voice, you could tell he was grinning.

Tyler stuck his middle finger up, turning away from Reid. Reid laughed.

'_Awe, don't be like that baby.'_ Tyler just glared, refusing to talk. _'Hey Ty, did I ever tell you how sexy you look when you're half asleep and pissed off with me?'_ Tyler cut Reid off by throwing a container of aftershave at the blonde, making Reid duck to miss it. The camera unfocused for a moment before Reid, still laughing, focused it back in.

Tyler spat out the toothpaste, rinsing his mouth with water. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before turning and glaring at Reid. _'You woke me up.'_ he said simply.

'_See everyone? This is why Tyler here is the top of the class, and I'm not.'_ Tyler rolled his eyes, putting a hand over the lens of the camera and moving past.

'_Get lost, Reid. It's three in the morning.'_ Reid laughed loudly.

'_I know, I woke you up remember?' _

Tyler was looking for clothes, sifting through the various piles while Reid watched. _'Reid,'_ Tyler started without looking up. Reid placed the camcorder on what appeared to be a nightstand, before moving around the bed silently. _'If you don't get out of my apartment right now I swear to god-'_ the younger boy was cut off suddenly when Reid spun him around and kissed him, though they were barely visible from the angle the camera was pointing.

Caleb automatically skipped to the next scene, and Pogue gave him a sidelong glance. Obviously this was not what the older boy wanted to see.

'_Reid Garwin, getting dressed up for a date everybody.'_ It was Tyler's voice, and he sounded amused. Reid rolled his eyes at the boy, pulling a shirt over his head as he walked past his lover.

'_It's not a date, Ty. I've told you a thousand times. He just wants to hang out 'cause his best mate's bringing his girl.' _Reid replied, throwing what looked to be a sock at Tyler.

'_Hey, it's not like I'm jealous. I'm the one you'll be waking up next to in the morning anyway.' _Tyler said, and both Pogue and Caleb could tell that Tyler's amusement also contained a sort of clipped sarcasm. He _was_ jealous.

Reid seemed to sense it also, because he turned to Tyler with a funny expression on his face. It was something between confusion and affection.

'_Ty, baby, what's got you upset? I told you it's not a date.'_ Tyler snorted, throwing the sock back at Reid and swivelling around, the camera now facing a desk. Pogue assumed Tyler had been sitting on the computer chair.

'_I'm not upset, I'm annoyed.' _Pogue couldn't help but think that he'd never really seen Tyler 'annoyed' before, and he sounded strangely cheerful despite his claim. He'd seen Tyler pissed as hell and he'd seen him irritable, but he'd never actually heard Tyler like this before.

'_And you're annoyed with me. You seem to be annoyed with me a lot this week.' _Tyler spun around again, turning the camera on the blonde, who still had that same look on his face. There wasn't any smug expression on his face, or any superiority either.

'_You know why.'_ Tyler snapped, and both Pogue and Caleb jumped sightly in shock at the force behind the words. They'd never heard Tyler talk like that to Reid before, and they'd especially never seen Reid flinch. Suddenly he looked like he understood.

'_Oh, shit Baby boy. I completely forgot, I'm sorry…'_ he trailed off, looking at the floor in defeat. _'I'll stay if you want me to.'_ Tyler sighed, and Reid looked up slowly.

'_It's fine. I just wanted you to remember, is all. Now you have, now I'm happy.'_ surprisingly, Pogue could tell that Tyler was telling the truth.

'_I cant believe I forgot your birthday, man I'm so stupid.' _Tyler laughed.

'_And he admits it at last, just let me check out the window to see if the Apocalypse has finally come.'_

'_I do have something for you, though.' _Reid said, slipping out of sight for a moment. When he came back, he was holding something in his hand. He held it out for Tyler; it was a black hemp cord with a stone in the shape of a doughnut. The stone shone like metal, and had small little blue crystals inlaid in it. _'It's hematite; black diamond. It was my ancestors from when he first came to Ipswich. It has only one other, it's a pair I guess. I have the other one. They're supposed to be something that binds couples together, but it's only a superstitious myth. I guess it's just a tradition in my family.'_

'_It's beautiful…what are those other gems?'_

'_The ones in this one are sapphire, and the ones in mine are rubies.' _Reid said, smiling and pulling the hemp cord out so it would fit over Tyler's head. The scene switched again, and this time Caleb couldn't help but feel as though it were strikingly familiar. Then he remembered; this was the same thing he'd seen them filming that Friday evening.

Reid was smirking, arms folded while he stood with his body facing the front window of his bedroom, Tyler filming once again. _'Way to change the subject, Ty.'_ he said, smirk changing to a soft smile.

'_Yeah, well, you were in a bad mood.'_ Tyler said, hand reaching out and shoving Reid lightly. _'So, what was it you were saying?'_

'_Do you mind if we…you know…tell the guys about 'us'? I mean, I think they deserve to know.'_ Reid said, Tyler stumbling over something as he approached Reid, making Reid laugh lightly. He reached out to grab he camcorder from Tyler, only to have the younger boy swat his hand away.

'_I don't think I believe my ears. The Reid Garwin wants to make it known that he's with little old me? How gracious of you, kind sir.'_ Reid sighed, holding a hand to his forehead.

'_We've been over this, Ty. There's nothing wrong with me loving you the way I do,'_ Pogue heard Caleb's knuckles crack, but didn't take his eyes off the screen. _'And if anyone has a problem with that, they'll have to deal with me.' _

Tyler was silent for a moment, but when he spoke they could hear the grin in his voice. _'You love me?'_

'_Ty, I've been telling you that I love you for years and you still don't believe me?'_ the blonde said, sounding incredulous.

'_Well, it's not like you've done a very-woa!'_ Tyler cut off as Reid tackled him, both collapsing onto the bed behind him. Reid took the camera, placing it on the bedside and turning it to face them while Tyler wasn't looking. The raven grinned, laughing lightly. Reid's hand came up to brush his hair back away from his own face, and then away from Tyler's, tucking loose strands behind the younger boy's ear.

'_I love you.'_ Reid said quietly, pressing his lips gently to Tyler's. Tyler reacted immediately, arms up around Reid's neck, hands in his hair, opening his mouth for Reid to deepen the kiss as much as possible. The blonde's hands moved up along Tyler's side, hooking under his shirt and pulling it up.

They broke the kiss, Tyler lifting his arms for Reid to pull his shirt up over his head. Reid only managed to get a chaste kiss before Tyler returned the favour, bringing his legs up and wrapping them around the blonde's waist and pressing their bare torso's together.

'_I love you.' _Tyler said gently, eyes half lidded, hands sliding up along Reid's back and circling over his shoulders. _'Remember two years ago in the forest, when you had that fight with your dad and I found you?'_ Reid nodded, resting his forehead against Tyler's, closing his eyes and breathing deeply.

'_You said you'd never leave me.'_ Tyler smiled, tracing his fingers lightly over Reid's lips.

'_Yes, that's right. I wont ever leave you, Reid. I pro-'_

The screen went black, green letters saying _DISCONNECTED_ was flashing across the screen. Caleb didn't turn to look at Pogue, who held the camcorder in his hand, thumb still pressed against the power button. He ripped the cord out, placing the camcorder beside him.

Caleb finally turned to stare at Pogue, distraught lining his face and anger hidden in his eyes. Pogue couldn't place the emotions to a reason, but he didn't care. He felt anger of his own, and it was heavy in his chest. He thought back to the words Tyler had said.

_I wont ever leave you_

He already did. Glaring at Caleb, he said "Do you regret it now?"

Caleb didn't answer.

* * *

**Act V**

"You weren't in swim practise today." Caleb said, leaning against the car and staring down at his friend's legs coming from underneath it. Pogue sighed loudly, knocking the wrench against something as he placed it beside him. The car was held up by a hoist at the workshop. It was past closing hours and he was the only one there, usually the perfect time to work on his car.

"I wasn't feeling well." he said irritably, reaching down and grabbing a grease covered rag from where it had been tucked in his pocket. Caleb, arms crossed and eyes still on the lower half of his friend, waiting for the other to slide from beneath the car and talk to him face to face.

"And yesterday as well? Were you feeling ill then? Because you seem well enough to work on your precious car." he said, slapping a hand against the passenger door.

"It's an illness that strikes me between three and six in the afternoon, it's called 'ignorance', you should try catching it some time. It's bliss, as they say." he ground out.

Caleb, finally fed up, reached down and grabbed Pogue by the hem of his dirty, paint stained jeans and slid him from under the car. Pogue, shocked, stared at the older warlock in confusion as he grabbed him again and lifted him to his feet and slammed him against the car.

Caleb glared at Pogue before leaning in and crushing his lips to Pogue's in a hard kiss. Pogue was frozen completely still, eyes open and body unresponsive. Caleb's hand hastily undid the button and fly of the younger male's old work jeans, before grabbing his shirt and pulling up over his chest.

Pogue moaned when Caleb rocked against him, grinding their crotches together, lips muffling the sound. When Caleb pulled away, he was still glaring at Pogue, even as he slid his hands down inside the other warlock's jeans and briefs, skin sliding over skin.

Pogue pressed their mouths together again, his hands moving to unzip Caleb's jacket, any rational thought lost when Caleb's seductive, thrumming power finally started to sink deep into his flesh, the simple carnal desire for heat and pleasure consuming them both.

* * *

**A/N: **I shudder to think of what Caleb will do next, now that he has Pogue wrapped around his finger and Reid too emotionally weak to fight back. But as you can see, the memory of Tyler is still strong among the Covenant, and with Reid especially.  
As I said, there will probably be about four more chapters, possibly five or more, depending on how long it takes me to get each event out of the way.  
On another note, if you haven't read the 'Mortal Instruments' series, I suggest you do. They are by far my favorite books to have ever read, and believe it or not I found it through the Author, who used to write HP fan fictions. I read her 'Draco Veritas' story and decided to check out her published original works.

Whoever wants Caleb to crawl under a rock and die, say 'aye'

**Take care**  
**MK**


	6. VI: I Say Burn

**The Last Heart  
MyurraK**

_**From the Ugliest of Crimes comes the most Beautiful and Deadly of them all**_

**Chapter VI  
I Say Burn**

**Act I**

Eyes flickered to Reid in shock when he sat at the cafeteria table on Friday, sliding into the empty seat beside Sarah, gaze focussed on the grain of the wood and pointedly ignoring his two companions. Sarah was about to say something, but Kate, seeing that Reid didn't want to be acknowledged just yet, stole the cupcake off the blonde girl's tray, putting it on her own.

Sarah, having forgotten her question, glared at her dark-skinned friend and stared at her lost treat forlornly. "Why do you insist on stealing everyone else's food?" she asked, not noticing the look of thanks Reid had sent toward Kate.

The darker girl shrugged, poking her fingernail experimentally against the icing, picking of a random coloured sprinkle and flicking it away, not looking to see where it landed. "I'm hungry." was all she said. At this, Reid looked up, examining the food her tray.

She had at least twice as much as usual. He was about to ask her about it when Sarah spoke first. "Whatever, I'm getting a salad." she said, narrowing her eyes at Kate. The darker girl shuddered, and Reid remembered that she absolutely detested salad of any kind.

When Sarah was out of hearing range, Reid leant across the table, startling Kate with his suddenness. "Alright, what are you hiding." he said, staring her up and down. She hadn't been gaining any weight he could see, and she seemed to be a lot more accustomed to stealing everyone else's food at lunch, as Sarah had pointed out.

She bit her lip, looking to the side as though someone would sneak up on her. She cleared her throat, opened her mouth to say something, and decided against it, settling back in her chair and ducking her head. Reid could see her hands were wringing against one another, and he could tell she wanted to say something, but she just couldn't.

"Kate? What's going on?" he asked, and her large, dark eyes flickered up to him. He shuddered, thinking how similar they were to Caleb's eyes. He shook his head, smiling softly to himself. Kate's eyes were warm, a soft and emotional brown. Caleb's were nearly black, cold and sent shivers down anyone's spine if one should stare into them for too long.

"I'm sorry Reid," she said. "I can't tell you." Reid grinned, leaning an elbow on the table top, chin resting in his hand. He stared, waiting until she sensed it and met his gaze again.

"Bullshit." he said quietly, still grinning. Her lips twitched in a reluctant smile, her hands grabbing the cupcake and biting into it to distract herself. Reid absently thought to himself that this was, surprisingly, the happiest he had been all week, just talking to Kate.

But he could still sense that there was something that she wanted to tell him, and with the look on her face he could see that she was excited about it, but there was some sort of reluctance there, as though it was something that could hurt other people. Like when a girl starts dating another girl who loves her dearly, and she wants to tell people, but then there was her adoring Christian parents that she knew would be heartbroken.

He absently held a lock of his hair between his fingers, twisting it and tugging it lightly. Kate caught him, reaching over and swatting his hand away from his hair, scolding him. "Keep doing that and you'll kill your hair follicles." she said, placing the last remaining piece of the cupcake in her mouth and cutting herself off.

Reid rolled his eyes, before considering to himself what it was that was making him relax. The air around Kate seemed to be vibrating; he'd felt it as soon as he'd gone to sit down that all around her, the air seemed to be a few degrees warmer than everywhere else. He couldn't figure it out, watching as she removed the foil from the chicken and tomato wrap before her.

Suddenly, his eyes widened, brow disappearing beneath his bangs and his jaw dropping. She noticed his lack of motion, hands pausing their movement and head turning up to glance at him. "What?" she asked, one hand raised in question.

"Kate, you…you're-"

"She's what?" someone asked sliding next to the girl and pressing a brief kiss to her cheek. Reid's teeth clacked together and he averted his eyes, his lungs turning to ice in his chest. Kate turned to Pogue, grinning and turning to kiss him on the mouth only to have him deter it by taking a bite out of the wrap, placing it back on the tray.

Reid could see the disappointment in her eyes, and almost instantly the air started to chill and her skin seemed to lose it's flush of excited colour. Reid swallowed thickly, eyes meeting Kate's, who shifted her body away from her boyfriend slightly.

"It's chilly in here." Reid said, nonchalantly. Kate smiled weakly, hand reaching out to take the wrap. It shook and trembled slightly, her fingers slowly curling into a fist and dropping to her lap. She bit her lip, staring at the wrap but not touching it. Reid reached over, pushing the tray closer to her. "Go on, you haven't eaten at all today." he said.

Her eyes snapped to him, widening, her hand instantly going to the wrap and grabbing it, her lips mouthing a silent 'thankyou'. Pogue turned his eyes to her. "Babe, you know I don't like it when you starve yourself." he said, running a hand down her arm. For some reason, Kate cringed foreword slightly, like when your stomach stabs with a sharp pain, and flung herself sideways, falling off the chair.

Pogue stared, wide eyed at his girlfriend, hand still out from where he had touched her. Reid snorted to himself at the expression of shock on his face, standing and moving around the table to help her to her feet. _You don't like it when she refuses to touch you either,_ Reid thought.

"I-I'm just not feeling well. Uh, I'm gonna go up to the library and just…read for a bit." she said, brushing herself off and reaching for her shoulder bag. Pogue frowned, standing.

"I'll come with you?" he asked, Reid thinking to himself how pathetic it must be to ask your girlfriend for permission to go with her rather than offering, as though she were constantly asking to be pleased rather than loved.

"No, it's fine." she said, waving a hand dismissively.

"I'll come." Reid said, shrugging his hands into his pockets and staring at her blankly. She smiled softly.

"Okay, lets go." she agreed, turning around. Reid hesitated a moment, glancing at Pogue. He looked as though he'd just been slapped, and turned to meet Reid's eyes. The blonde shook his head at the older warlock, moving to follow her.

"You have no idea, do you. Moron." he said quietly, knowing Pogue heard him.

Reid fell into step with Kate, and they made their way to the other end of the building silently, slipping inside the library and moving to browse the shelves. Kate moved automatically over to the Child Studies section, Reid sighing quietly and doing the same.

Once hidden by the shelves of books, Kate shoved Reid back against them, her eyes blazing but not with anger, more a sort of relief, fear and that familiar excitement Reid had noticed in her earlier. He crossed his ankles, hands resting on the back of his head as he waited for her to talk.

"You're right. It was bullshit." she said, chuckling sadly to herself.

"So, how come you freaked out when Pogue touched you?" he asked, and she frowned, glaring at the ground, a hand on her opposite arm, rubbing it.

"I don't know, I just…my body refused to touch him. It's like, I could sense something but I just don't know what. I'll figure it out, but…it was just a reflex. My stomach just hurt and then I cringed away from him." she said, staring at her shoes intently.

"Do you think it's one of those psychic thingies soul mates get? Like, maybe he did something naughty." Reid joked, but he couldn't help the uncomfortable squirm in his stomach at the thought of even mentioning Pogue's name out loud. It had taken him a week to realise; he was scared of his brothers.

Kate sighed sadly. "I don't know, it's probably…something else." Reid grinned then, scoffing at her reply. She looked up, eyes narrowing, before softening again, a reluctant sigh leaving her lips. "You've probably guessed, right?"

"That you're pregnant? Yeah, I've guessed." he said, waiting for her to continue on from there. She flushed, the skin of her cheeks turning even darker.

"Yeah." she said, rubbing a hand absently over her stomach. "You know, it's an odd feeling, knowing that this little guy is going to have powers when he grows up. I just hope he doesn't hate me for giving birth to him." Reid grinned, looking toward the ceiling and staring at the flickering light above them.

"Trust me, he wont hate you. I doubt there are many kids in the world who didn't want to be Superman at one point in their lives." he said, grinning. Kate stared at him sceptically, as though she didn't quite believe him.

"You wanted to be Superman?" she said, a smirk suddenly twisting at her lips. Reid's face fell, realising his mistake. Slapping a hand over his steadily reddening face, he mumbled out a retort.

"I was seven, my mum made me a cape out of an old red blanket. I ran and jumped off the roof of the gardening shed, thinking I could fly." he admitted, Kate stifling a giggle. "I told mum the cape was broken, she told me I had to wait five or six years."

"Have you ever tried again?" she asked, biting her lip to keep from laughing. Reid shook his head.

"God no. I've been terrified of heights ever since, I've just never told the guys that."

* * *

**Act II**

Caleb watched through the window in an oddly detached fascination as Kate and Reid were building a snowman. The snow was melting despite the cold, and most of it was a mucky brown colour from mud due to the lack of snow cover. Sarah was standing to the side with a digital camera, taking photos of her two friends and laughing along with them.

Reid was obviously happy, but every few minutes he'd pause and stare at the sky or the snow in his hands with a look of forlorn loss. Caleb knew that Reid still hadn't come to terms with Tyler's absence, and by the time he accepted that his lover had died he'd be ready to move on. At least, that was how Caleb seen it.

Reid had just helped Kate roll up a heap of snow, letting her finish it off with Sarah's help. He blanked out for a moment, before a grin split across his face and he gathered up a handful of snow, rolling it into a small ball.

Without any warning, he sent it hurtling at the side of Kate's head. She gasped in shock, falling into Sarah who tripped over the knee-high ball they'd managed to make, causing it to break under her weight. Reid laughed, ducking just in time to avoid a lump of loose snow Kate had thrown at him.

Caleb's lips twitched in a sneer, watching the three of them having fun. Finally, Reid fell back onto the trampled snow, waving his hand in surrender and staring up at the sky, murmuring what looked like a 'thanks'.

Kate smiled, grabbing Sarah's wrist and pulling the girl to the side, a warm smile that spread to a shocked grin on the blonde's face.

From the sound of breathing, Caleb knew that Pogue had come to stand beside him and watch his girlfriend. Caleb rolled his eyes at the thought, but watched the two interacting with interest.

Suddenly, Sarah squealed, pulling Kate into a chaste ecstatic kiss and wrapping her arms around her friend. Pogue made an odd sound in the back of his throat, his whole body twitching jerkily in an odd movement that looked like he had just stopped himself from collapsing. Caleb felt a metallic taste welling in his mouth when he spotted Reid standing up, going to the two of them and standing to the side, still grinning, hands in his pockets.

Running his tongue over his teeth, Caleb deducted that it was blood he was tasting, but he wasn't bothered by it. Kate turned to Reid, Sarah releasing her friend, before the two girls crashed into him, the three collapsing on their half-finished snowman, destroying any hope of finishing it as they shoved snow in his face and he tried to push them away, grinning and protesting loudly.

Whatever news Kate had told Sarah was obviously something they deducted as worth celebrating. The girl did seem to have an unnatural glow about her, the kind that made her skin seem warm and her life appear happy and content. Oh, if only she knew.

His hand grabbed Pogue's collar, turning the younger male to him and bringing him closer. Pogue took a shaky breath, their lips just brushing before he suddenly ripped away from Caleb's grasp, taking a few stumbling steps back.

"Don't, Caleb." he said, his voice wavering. He glanced around, finding that the drawing room was indeed empty, but he didn't approach nonetheless. Caleb smirked, standing slowly. In a few fluid steps, he had Pogue pressed up against the alcove where the window they'd been staring out of was.

"Why not. I seem to recall that you weren't complaining last time." he said, hands grabbing Pogue's shoulders, slamming him roughly against the stone. Pogue gasped, not expecting the pain or the proximity. "In fact," Caleb began, leaning closer and running his bottom lip across Pogue's cheek. "I thought you rather enjoyed it."

Pogue shoved him away again, glaring hard. "I did not enjoy it." he said firmly, but his eyes were on the ground as he spoke. Caleb smirked again. _He's not trying to convince me, he's trying to convince himself_, Caleb thought.

"Yes, you did." the older warlock insisted, pressing his body against Pogue's again. "It's your fault, you know. It's your fault that I'm doing this. You didn't stop it, you aren't stopping it. Hell, you probably couldn't stop it." he pressed his lips against Pogue's temple, small kisses making their way down the bronze skin of his cheekbone. Caleb's hand undid Pogue's belt, a quick flick of his wrist and the belt was falling to the ground. His other hand undid the buttons on the younger male's shirt.

"I cant do this." he simpered pleadingly. Caleb grinned, yanking the shirt down, exposing a shoulder. He pressed a light kiss there. Pogue shuddered, a wave of heat invading his body.

"You already have." he bit down, Pogue groaning in pleasure and pain, one hand gripping the sleeve of Caleb's shirt as tightly as possible without using, the other curled into a fist, up in defence as though ready to strike his best friend. Caleb watched the fist, eyes narrowed, until it shook and slowly lowered. "See? It's not that hard to let go of your pride, to just surrender."

Pogue's fist thumped against the wall, scraping away the skin and drawing blood.

* * *

**Act III**

"Why didn't you come to Nicky's tonight." Caleb snapped, the front door slamming behind him. Reid flinched, eyes barely flicking up to his older brother before he licked his thumb, turning the page of his book and ignoring him. Caleb could see that the blonde had paled, and his hands were shaking.

"I didn't want to." Reid said, eyes scanning the sentences before him but none of them sticking. He just seen letters, words, but he didn't see any meanings. Empty words.

"Why, because Tyler isn't 'bending over a table' for you anymore?" Caleb snapped. Reid cringed, shoulders shaking with the effort of breathing. Caleb growled, knowing the words had been harsh but not really caring, moving to stand in front of Reid, arms crossed and eyes blazing down at the quavering male.

"Don't bring Tyler into this." Reid hissed, eyes narrowing. Caleb seen him swallow, and felt himself tick with anger once again.

"Why not? That's what this is all about after all, isn't it? It's always about Tyler. Well, Tyler isn't here." Caleb growled, kneeling down before the younger warlock. His hand rested heavily on Reid's knee, his voice loosing it's force and softening, like when you're talking to someone who's afraid of the dark to keep them from focussing on it. "Reid, you have to understand. Tyler wasn't needed any more, he didn't need to stay here. He left so that you could move on."

Reid's jaws ground together, his hands clenching around the pages of the book. He closed them slowly, staring Caleb in the eye as he threw the book over his shoulder, not caring where it landed. "You know, don't you. About Kate."

Caleb frowned. "What about Kate?" he asked, and the relief on Reid's face was gone before he could be sure it was there. "Oh, nothing. But if you keep fucking Pogue behind her back, she's not going to be too happy." Caleb sucked in a breath, before remembering the effect his words had. The same words he had used on Pogue that had melted the other boy into a pile of submissive guilt.

"It's your fault I'm doing that, Reid. I told you that I'd give you enough time to move on, so Pogue's keeping me busy until then. I'm using him, Reid. He's under my spell, so don't think you can help him. He's nothing to me." Reid's eyes were wide. His hands, shaking, pried Caleb's hand off his knee, the blonde standing and putting some space between them, a trembling hand covering his mouth. "Reid."

Reid turned to stare at Caleb incredulously. "I didn't think it was true, I couldn't believe it." he said, a hand pointing at the older male accusingly. "But you are, you're f-fucking him." he spat, finger jabbing the air. Caleb growled, standing from before the couch and folding his arms over his chest again.

"What are you going to do about it? Are you going to give yourself to me in his place?" he shouted, moving with imperceptible speed and slamming Reid back against the wall beside the archway to the foyer. Reid gasped in pain from striking his head against the wall, hands going to push Caleb away. "Would you sacrifice yourself to save dear little Kate and Pogue from this monster? The same one you couldn't save Tyler from?" he said, stepping back, slamming a hand against the wall beside Reid's head when he went to move.

"Don't say his name." Reid simpered, ignoring the statement. Caleb felt the familiar lick of possessiveness sweep his insides, and leant closer again, lips brushing Reid's ear.

"You're weak, and I've outdone you." Reid growled, shoving Caleb back by the shoulders.

"Burn in hell!" he shouted, eyes glaring darker with power before settling back into their usual moonstone blue. "Stay away from me, you're insane. Never touch me again!" Caleb smirked, the black of his pupils spilling over his irises. With a sound similar to crackling thunder, he crashed into Reid, sending them both to the floor, Reid's thinking just quick enough to save himself from cracking his head against the ground.

"Say it again." Caleb whispered, moving so that he was straddling Reid. The blonde went to grab for Caleb's throat, fingers brushing the skin and the older male's hands grabbing his wrists, pinning them to the floor either side of his head. "Come on. Give it up." Caleb hissed, moving so his knee sat dangerously close to the blonde's throat. "Give up Reid, come on. Say it again."

Reid squirmed, legs flailing uselessly, hips trying to buck Caleb off and stomach collapsed in itself with lack of oxygen. With Caleb sitting on his sternum, knee inching closer to his throat and hands uselessly pinned beside his head, he could feel only pain, his resolve weakening under Caleb's voice.

That same poisonous voice in his head that told him it _was_ his own fault. The same voice that screamed at him to give up, to give in. He was worthless, he let Tyler down.

"Say 'never' one more time, Reid." Caleb was smiling, his eyes were burning with obsession and insanity. Reid shivered, crying out in pain. This was Tyler's murderer, this was his brother. He was helpless, he was frightened. His fear for this man was ebbing in the back of his mind, like a horde of bees buzzing around in his head, trying to break free.

"…never." Caleb's smile left his face, and suddenly the older boy was no longer on top of him. Unable to sit up just yet, his body still screaming in pain, he turned his head to glance around. Caleb was standing above him, lips pulled in a thin line, arms folded loosely over his abdomen.

"Forget him, Reid. He isn't coming back, but I am." he said, turning to leave. When Reid heard the front door click open, he called out.

"Just one of the many things neither of you have in common." Reid could hear Caleb's sharp intake of breath, and for a moment he thought that the older boy would come back and finish what he had started days ago, and when he heard the door close gently, he held his breath for a few moments, only letting it out once he was sure Caleb was gone.

Caleb was gone, but he was coming back. Tyler wasn't.

* * *

**Act IV**

Reid lifted the window from the sill, eyes black as night with power as he willed the fire escapes to remain silent. Slipping out of the room, he narrowly avoided hitting his head when the window stuck and refused to move any higher. His feet touched the fire escape, the metal wobbling unstably under his weight.

With silent precision, he moved over to the double guardrail that separated the fire escapes between the two buildings. With shaky hands and knees, he balanced on the first guardrail, reaching over the two-feet gap, feeling the metal groan and waver underneath him. He stilled, waiting until the iron steadied, and with a single movement he threw himself over to the other side and onto the other platform, landing with a heavy crash that would have been loud enough to wake up Caleb and Pogue if it hadn't been for his use.

He rubbed his temples, feeling the power straining behind his eyes the way it did when he used to much for his unascended body to cope with. It wasn't enough power to alert the others, but it was enough to hurt, like a migraine that refused to leave no matter how many stress pills and pain killers you swallowed.

Shuddering due to the snowflakes landing on his skin, he moved over to the window to Tyler's bedroom, sliding it open. After stepping into the room, lowering the window as quickly as possible, he removed the silencing spell and collapsed with a sigh of physical relief.

"Note to self, silencing spells are killers." he hissed, eyes scanning the room. He half expected to see Tyler curled up on the bed, facing the wall and holding a pillow between his arms, face buried into it, blankets tangled around his ankles and elbows. The way he always slept. Of course, that couldn't happen. Tyler wasn't here.

His heart cried in disappointment before he'd even given it a chance to hope.

Without another moment to spare, he crawled up onto Tyler's bed, wrapping himself in his lover's scent and sighing in sad contentment. He couldn't sleep any other way, but he knew. Soon enough, Tyler's scent would fade, and he'd be stuck with the shadows that pulled faces on the walls, the wind that howled with laughter and taunted him by tapping against the window. He'd be stuck with the traps of his own mind, and Tyler wouldn't be there to help him.

_Tyler wont ever be here again,_ was Reid's last lingering thought before he started to drift to sleep.

* * *

**Act V**

It was early Monday morning when Reid piled into class behind Sarah, who gave his hand a brief squeeze, her blue eyes giving him a hopeless look of encouragement before she slipped of to her seat beside Kate and Pogue.

It was Ancient Literature Studies once again, and their assignments were due. Reid was amazed he'd even bothered to do his, but he was less amazed at what it was based on. He was scared to hand it in; he had no idea what kind of reactions it would warrant from the professor, or his peers.

Sliding into his seat in the third row, he wasn't surprised when Tyler's seat was left vacant beside him, and the end seat was taken up by someone else. He felt them staring, and turned to see who it was today; mildly surprised to see it was Aaron staring blankly at him, without a hint of malice, he nodded slightly and turned back to his shoulder bag that was resting on his lap.

With surprisingly steady hands, he pulled the assignment out of his bag and set it on his desk, compulsively squaring it against the edges, and stared down at the title.

'_Never Was The Time For Us_' graced the top of the document, drawing his eyes toward it, screaming out at him to be changed. But every time Reid took a marker to it, ready to scribble it out and pen another one, his hand refused to, the pen veering off in a different direction as though it were charmed to deter him.

Reid glanced up when his name was called during the roll call, surprised to realise that he never noticed the professor walk in. He felt that tight sensation of nervousness pass momentarily when several people were called before him to hand their assignments in, but they returned full force when he realised that they were lining up to read theirs out.

Finally, the teacher called. "Reid Garwin."

The room fell silent, Reid sucking in a deep breath when he felt that swarm of nerves swell inside him again. He capped his pen, resolving that he'd never change the title. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and swallowing. As he exhaled, he imagined he were sorting the nervous fluttering butterflies in his stomach in a line, ordering them and keeping them under control.

"Mister Garwin, if you feel you cannot-"

"Not, it's fine. I just…" he cut himself off, clearing his throat. His skin felt cold, his hands slightly clammy. Everyone was staring at him, interested to see what he had written about. Many had presumed he'd just written a sappy poem about Tyler.

He stood from his seat, edging around the desk and slipping the sheet of paper from the desk. He swallowed loudly, sidling up next to the professor and opening his mouth to speak, freezing. The professor laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Would you prefer if I read it out?" the man asked, sympathy in his eyes and in his voice. Reid's confidence vaulted back, and he shook his head. The man smiled weakly. "Very well."

"Well, I'd rather not explain my assignment. It will mean something different to everybody, but what it means to me is something I'd rather not share." Reid said, bringing his fingertips to his lips briefly. Lowering the paper, he cleared his throat and read.

"_Never Was The Time For Us,_

_It's not a green hollow where a river sings. It's not where the sun shines on the proud mountains in rings. Its not where the light catches on tattered grass. It's not in a little valley, misted like a light in a glass._

_An endlessly surging and dying desire to cry. The whine of the desires of skin. The sigh. When the fields are cold, nature deflowered and old. The sigh._

_He told me, over and over and over again. It never was the time for anyone else._

_Idle youth, by all things enslaved. Through sensitivity, I've wasted my days. Let the moment come, when his heart and mine love as one. I told myself to wait, let no one see. Without the promise, without the ecstasy. Let nothing delay, this hiding away._

_You've been patient so long, you've forgotten the toll. The terror and the suffering, you divulged from the depths of your soul. The sick thirst again, darkens your veins._

_I had better wake, see how evil you can be. When you see my dark smile, it will be the smile you'll truly remember. You'll remember I'm not quite so kind. You made me this way._

_I crawled on my knees, and this time I say I can never love you. I fell to my knees, I know you are not kind. Cant you see that this is life, and because of you, it's killing me. Is it mine, is it yours, is it his._

_He seen that this was our death, but it was only his. It never was the time for us._

_The white of his wrist, his twisted nape, his closing eyelids. The red of his lips, stained with the life that leaks out of him. Don't deny you live to break me, don't tell me it's in my mind._

_So tell me, over and over and over. Tell me that it's my fault._

_Then say never, just one time_."

Reid blinked rapidly, wiping a hand over his face and rubbing at his eyes. He refused to meet anyone's eyes, handing his paper to the professor and slipping back into his seat while his peers murmured amongst themselves. He could feel Caleb's eyes boring into the back of his skull, and he knew he got the message.

_Say it, Caleb. Come on, give up and say it._ Reid thought in a mix of resolve and bitter loathing, gritting his teeth and glaring into the distance. _Give it up, say it. Say 'never', just once, Caleb. I bet you can't.

* * *

_

**A/N:** Reid's fighting it as best he can, but he blames himself for everything. He believes that he's weak. But Caleb isn't the kind to give in without a fight.

Next chapter, Tyler's parents come home and things start to get a little more worked up between the characters. Kate has some issues to work out with Pogue, also Sarah makes an…interesting proposition.

It turns out that there are going to be more chapters than I thought. Silly me, I can never stick to my own limits. Hopefully, however, people haven't given up hope for Reid to get through this. And, as usual, my love goes out to my readers and I hope to hear from you.

Also, I've got a designated occupation. I'm going to (or being sent to) join the Police academy when I finish twelfth grade, where I'll finish writing my novels for the first few years in between assignments/training. Then, once I've been designated a recruited area, hopefully in Sydney, I'll go to school at the JMC academy where I'll study Digital Film and Television Production. There I can use the green rooms, take film cameras and equipment home for use, get to know other people who work lighting, cameras and sound systems etc, and hopefully I'll graduate with all the necessities for a Movie Director. I should have enough money from my Police job (and possibly novels) to open up a studio.

Btw, there are two art classes for the tenth grade, the one I'm in is called Visual Design while the other is just Visual Arts. Anyway, the teacher from the VA class came to ours and said his students were interested in getting a nude model in for an hour's hire for us to sketch (we're doing nude art right now, we've just finished landscaping) but, despite our class being all girls aside from one gay boy, we were the ones who made an immature fuss and now the model has to wear a leotard. Either that or our teachers, both of which are in their fifties, would pose naked for us. Eww, I do hope they were joking.

**MK**


	7. VII: Closer Than They Appear

**The Last Heart  
MyurraK**

_**From the Ugliest of Crimes comes the most Beautiful and Deadly of them all**_

**Chapter VII  
Closer Than They Appear**

**Act I**

Caleb was stretched across the lounge of his living room, the warmth from the glowing fireplace hitting his side, while the cold from the open window seeped into the other. The light pale drapes of the window fluttered about, snow flakes swirling in after them, only to melt inside the room and fall to the floor in neglected drops of melting ice. Winter was almost here.

He held his hand up, blocking the view of the small flames, closing his fingers tightly together. The red glowing lines between his fingers and through his nails dimmed and disappeared when he moved his hand in the direction of the open window.

With heat, the blood flowed contently, but with the cold, blood slowed to a painfully sluggish halt in the veins.

Closing his eyes, he tried to catch sleep before it begun to elude him for yet another night. He found himself left in the darkness behind closed lids, chasing dreams to keep him company. Something in the distance approached rapidly. He seen Tyler's face, the younger boy smiling at him, but his eyes were pained.

_'Caleb.'_ he said, his voice strained. Blood dribbled from between his lips, rolling down over his chin either side and disappearing below his collar. _'Help me.'_ his hands were outstretched, and he took a step back. Shadows fell over his face, lost under a dark mask of shadow, blue gleaming eyes turned pitch, shimmering like moonlight over a lake at night. He grinned, bloody teeth glittering crimson. Dark blood rolled from the long sleeves of his shirt, pooling in the palms of his hands.

Caleb gasped, eyes flickering open and body rolling off the couch, hands and knees hitting the rug and head hanging low. His breath shuddered and he swallowed thickly, still gasping to fill his lungs, perspiration rolling from his forehead like beads from a broken necklace scattered over a marble floor.

He stared at the backs of his hands, and for a moment he thought they were covered in blood, only to blink and see they were the same pale they had always been. Yellow light contrasted blue shadows across his skin, hands ghostly pale against the dark brown of the rug beneath his fingers, knuckles turning white from digging them in. A drop of sweat fell onto his hand, and he watched it glitter there for a moment.

It took a few more drops for him to realise they were actually tears.

"You're dead, Tyler You're not coming back. Leave me alone." he whispered, sitting back on his knees and staring at the palms of his now upturned hands. Once again, he could have sworn his hands glittered with crimson stains, but as he blinked and a pain shot through his temples, he stared down at them, shaking and pale once again.

_I have your blood on my hands_, he thought to himself. Running his hands over his face to rid the tears, his eyelids fell closed. This time, though sleep hadn't taken him, it was Reid he seen. Reid standing there with a split lip and a cruel, crooked smile on his face, eyes gleaming mercury grey. He held out a wet, red hand, still smiling.

"Stop it. Stop showing me this. I wouldn't hurt Reid." he said quietly, voice shaking in disbelief. Voices whispered in his ears, the power inside him surging in protest. _I already have hurt him_, he thought. _It was for his own good. It is for his own good._

Opening his eyes again, he was aware they were black with the temptation of use. Something inside him was shouting not to hurt Reid any more, but he pushed it away, telling himself it was for Reid's own good.

In his mind, eyes still open, he pictured Tyler, cold and lifeless with eyes a sickly white of death, blood-red lips melted together as though, forbidding him to speak. Dark hair, dripping wet in thin locks fell around his face, blue veins spidered underneath transparent skin.

It's for Reid's own good.

* * *

**Act II**

Reid was curled up on Tyler's bed, arms wrapped around one of the pillows, bloodshot teary eyes staring blearily out the window of Tyler's room. Tyler's parents had come home that day, and had come to see him, Pogue, Caleb, Sarah and Kate in school. Tyler's funeral was in two days, saying they hadn't told anyone so they didn't have to think about it.

The whole time, Tarren had just stood there staring at him solemnly, like she was apologizing for her own son's death to him. He shook his head, more tears coming to his eyes when thunder rolled angrily outside Tyler's window.

Every night for the last few nights Reid had snuck into Tyler's apartment, unable to sleep unless Tyler's scent was all around him. One day the scent would fade, and Reid would be left to the monsters of shadows that pulled faces at him and of creatures of wind that battered against the windows.

He glanced at the clock, glaring at the bright green numerals that stated it was only eleven at night. The alarm clock buzzed and the numbers flickered, the light dimming and dying out before coming back again.

"It's broken. It's all broken." he sobbed, exhaustion tugging at him and dragging him into sleep. Tyler had shattered the perfect wall of glass that bound them together and protected them from the rest of the world, and Reid found that the pieces just wouldn't fit together again. He couldn't rebuild that wall by himself.

The wind howled in his ears, water spraying his face as the storm raged inside the room from the open window. Reid knew that he'd shut the window after himself, or maybe he'd just forgotten that night. The hairs along his arms raised and tingled, and the back of his neck prickled with the sensation of someone staring. Reid's eyes cautiously opened and he glanced around the room, not seeing anything.

Lightning flashed, illuminating the room and casting a halo of white light around the silhouetted figure standing before the window. Reid gasped, sitting up and flying back against the headboard, hand fumbling out and flicking the switch on the light.

He choked on his own breath, tears swimming in his eyes once again. "Tyler?" he cried out, his other hand reaching across the covers to pull them back, ready to run over to his lover. The man's head raised, and Reid's breath caught in his throat again.

Tyler was soaking wet, water dripping off his body and pooling on the floor. His dark hair stuck to his pale skin in small flicks of shining locks, fluttering lashes closed and clumped together with water. He was pale, deathly pale, and his veins stood out against his skin. His head was hung and his hands, held limply by his sides, twitched and as though just processing the Reid's voice, he opened his eyes and glanced up completely.

Reid's eyes widened when they met with the dead pale eyes of the creature's gaze, and it seemed to examine him before it's dark lips parted in a silent scream, a hand held out as though it were beckoning Reid to come with it. The darkling dissolved into wisps of black and grey smoke, sucked out through the window.

"…Tyler…" he whimpered, hand loosely grabbing the coverlet and dragging it back. He stumbled off the bed, both hands grabbing the edge of the window and about to slam it shut. Rain whipped against his skin, and his eyes caught sight of the clouds parting to show the glowing disk of the moon.

His fingers slipped off the window, knees lowering to the ground and forehead resting against the wet windowsill. For the uncountable time that week his heart clenched in his chest. He felt sick, as though any moment now he were going to throw up his insides.

"Tyler." he whispered, the name falling from his lips without any conscious effect. His hands curled at his sides, eyes falling closed. A bead of cold rain rolled down behind his ear along the nape of his neck, making him shiver unpleasantly.

He subconsciously held his breath when a warm rush of air brushed against his ear. Eyes shooting open, he stared straight at the wall as though any hope he felt would be dashed should he turn to glance at the source of the flush of heat.

There was a slight pressure against his cheek, warm and moist like a ghost of a kiss. _'Get up, Reid.'_ whispered against his ear. _'Go home and wait for me there.' _

When the heat melted away, Reid heard his own voice cry out in anguish as though hearing someone speaking in the distance. He whirled around, eyes shooting rapidly around the room. He found his mouth opening to say Tyler's name, but stopped himself and bit down on his lower lip.

Steeling himself, he pulled himself up to his feet and stepped one leg through the window, easing out of it so he didn't hurt himself. Without another moment he moved to the stairs rather than going over the double-rails like he had every other night.

He vaguely felt a distant thought nagging at him, but his feet had a mind of their own.

With a sudden loud groan and crack, his foot fell through the warped second step, loose rusty pins snapping under the extra pressure and the entire fire-escape collapsing in on itself. The steps rattled against one another and the platforms fell from their brackets and tilted as though too many heavy boxes had been placed on one corner.

With the leg of his pants caught between the jagged edges of the step, two hands turned to the outside hand, rail and other leg bent to the knee, Reid blinked the rain runoff from his eyes and stared down at the fire-escape. His heart was lurching in his chest, but the fire-escape had stopped collapsing and sat idle half-hanging off the side of the building.

He could feel the iron piercing his skin, and was half aware he'd need a tetanus shot when he got off of the dangerous contraption. He took his eyes off his hands which were gripping the groaning rail with vengeance, instead he tried to slide his foot up from the hole the broken step had created.

"Out of everything we fixed in this dump, we never even considered-" suddenly the rail snapped off it's pins under the weight, swinging out like a released rubber band and dragging Reid with it, the iron slicing gashes up his leg.

He wasn't sure where he landed, but he was aware that it was the ground. Broken rocks jarred into his back and his hands felt numb with the cold. He didn't feel any pain, so maybe he hadn't hurt anything. His head hit the ground hard, but his body had reacted at the last moment and forced him to Use seconds before impact with the ground.

He could still hear the wrought iron of the wrecked fire-escape thwacking against the building in the wind, screeching as it did so. The rain stung his eyes and he was shivering, leaves stuck to his face and mud swelled under his fingers. Absently, he thought that maybe he should try to stay awake just in case he'd hit his head.

But sleep snared him before he could remember why.

* * *

**Act III**

Reid sniffled, glaring hotly at Sarah when she went to press a bag of ice to the back of his head. She returned the glare when he went to open his mouth and complain, slapping the bag to his head harder than she meant to. He winced, fingers uncurling from a fist and slamming against the table-top with a jolt of pain.

"Sorry, but it's either this or telling everyone you have a concussion." she said. Kate smiled, holding out a mug of hot cocoa for him. He took it wordlessly, glaring at the brown frothy liquid as he spun the mug between his hands, fascinated with how the bubbles stayed exactly where they were even if the mug turned.

"How did you fall out of your window, anyway? I thought it was, like, right next to that fire-escape thingy." Kate said curiously. Reid flinched, but retorted sarcastically.

"All the windows in this house are my windows." he said. "I fell out of the one down the side of the house. I was…trying to see how far I had to lean out."

Kate raised her brow at him. "To do what?"

"…to see the stars." Sarah patted the bag of ice, grinning when Reid flinched with pain.

"I knew you were a romantic at heart." she said, Kate glaring at her. Sarah realised what she'd said, slapping both hands over her mouth. Reid could hear her swallow from where he was sitting at his kitchen table, but he didn't care for her muffled apology. He felt a pang in his chest, and he remembered the Darkling he'd been sent that had taken the form of Tyler.

The room was silent, filled only with Reid's occasional sniffling from the cold he'd caught from falling unconscious in the rain. Kate sighed, standing from where she'd taken a seat at the other side of the table, moving around and grabbing Sarah by the elbow, dragging her out.

Reid regretted calling Kate. He'd only wanted her to come down but Sarah had answered because the darker girl was in the showers. Of course, after finding out he'd woken up with a head injury, she'd wanted to come and tend to it herself. She wanted to be a doctor, but Reid couldn't help but think she'd be better off as a butcher or someone who worked in a slaughterhouse.

When he'd woken up, it had been due to a coughing fit. He was covered with mud and his skin was itchy from the rain and whatever gardening chemicals had ended up in the dirt he was laying in. The first thing he'd done after assessing that he was indeed laying on the ground outside and shivering with a chill despite his skin feeling flushed with intense heat was to stare up at the ruined fire-escape that had been attached to Tyler's building.

Of course, it was quite strange to see that the fire-escape was set tightly against the building as it had ever been, not a single step out of place, or a pin rolling loose on the ground. It was as though nothing had ever happened.

Reid glared down into his mug again, before pressing the rim to his lips. His ankle was caning with pain, but his jeans weren't torn like they had been the night before. He set the mug down, crossing his ankle onto his knee and rolling up the pant-leg to stare at the wound again.

Where he'd expected to find pieces of metal sticking out of his leg, he found bruises and five crescent-shaped wounds, the perfect impression of a hand. Someone or something had grabbed him, but he didn't remember it. He remembered the fire-escape being shredded under age and weight.

He remembered the Darkling that had taken the shape of Tyler; or maybe that hadn't happened either. Maybe he'd just been sleep-walking and he'd injured himself, grabbed himself in some sort of seizure during his sleep. Maybe…

Maybe he was going crazy.

Suddenly, he remembered when Tyler had, at the last moment, told him to move on if anything were ever to happen to him. How the younger warlock had, at first, stood behind him like a guilty child when Caleb was angry in that alley. Had he…had he known something would happen?

Kate knocked tentatively on the edge of the archway when she entered the kitchen, cautiously stepping around the table when she spotted Reid with his forehead pressed against it, shoulders shaking as he sobbed silently.

"Reid?" she asked, hand reaching out to the blonde. His shoulders stilled when her hand rested on them, his words muffled. She frowned, unable to understand what he had said. "What's wrong?" she asked. He tilted his head then, their gazes meeting. His eyes were darkened with anger, hot tears rolling down his cheeks slowly, brow creased in what appeared to be despair. But Kate knew, she knew from the stirring inside her stomach that he was furious.

"I hate him. I hate him so much." he growled, Kate jolting at the force behind his voice. Her dark eyes scanned his face. Was he talking about the person who did this to them?

"Who?"

"Tyler."

* * *

**Act IV**

It's hard to come to terms with yourself when something you love is taken from you. Sometimes, at first, you just shrug it off like it happens all the time, and then it all comes crashing down when you least expect it. Because, even if you know you aren't the only one, you feel all alone.

It's a million times worse when someone you love is taken from you. At least, that's what Kate guessed it was.

She knew she'd never understand why Reid said he hated Tyler, but then again she doubted that she had even a vaguely similar bond with Pogue when it came to the strength of the emotion between the two youngest boys of the covenant.

Despite everything, it was sad to know that Reid seemed to be the only one affected thus far. When she'd first found out about the other boy's accident she'd cried for hours. And when it finally clicked that when Caleb had told them that he had been taken off life support that it meant he was gone for good she'd cried again for hours straight; Kate as well.

But over the week, it almost seemed to become old news to them. And yet Reid continued to have breakdowns, pick himself back up and then break down all over again. She knew they'd all been affected, but in comparison to Reid it had been as great as comparing a tear to the ocean.

Even Tyler's parents were, despite looking almost dead and defeated, nothing against the agony she could sense Reid's body screaming in.

She'd expected Reid to write about Tyler when they'd done the Ancient Literature essay, but hardly any of it could she make out to be related to Tyler directly. Most of it sounded as though Reid had been speaking directly to someone in that room, to the very person who'd brought this pain down on them.

She'd considered Aaron, but then she'd seen the way Reid glanced directly at Caleb at the last line and it was then she knew. She'd had her suspicions but she'd cast them away with self-disgust.

Tyler had been murdered by his very own brothers, and Reid had almost followed him. Maybe Reid could mend, but she doubted he would.

* * *

**Act V**

The maroon Aston Martin drew to a stop just a few yards from the front of the Danver's manor, Gormin recognized the blonde boy as well as he recognized day from night. The dark girl seated beside him wasn't a new sight to him, either, but she was usually with the long-haired boy.

He watched the blonde boy get out and almost slam the car door shut, the girl getting out and rubbing her arms, toeing the door shut as she glared at the muddy potholes scattered all around her as though she were a fox assessing animal traps in search for a safe path.

Reid called out to her, and she nodded and followed him a few feet behind. Gormin put the rifle down and trudged downstairs to meet the two of them.

"What are you two doing here." he said simply, glancing down at his watch. He was aware that it was a school day and that the school hours ran between seven in the morning and four in the afternoon, so he was obviously curious as to why they were 'skipping' class as they called it.

"We need to read the book." Reid said. Gormin's eyes went straight to Kate, ready to protest about her not being in the covenant only for her to hold her hand up to silence him.

"I'm well aware of the rules. However, it does state that family of each generation is allowed access. And seeing as I'm carrying the next generation inside me, I suggest you let me past, unless you want to know what it feels like to have stiletto heels shoved up your ass, all six inches bud." Reid sighed loudly and shrugged when Gormin stared at the two of them, shocked.

"Don't doubt her, she's a pregnant woman." he said, as though that explained it all. Confused, Gormin stepped aside and let her past him toward the door at the end of the hall. He turned to Reid and stared. The blonde held his hands up. "It's not mine, pops." he protested, edging away from the leering man and following Kate toward the basement stairs.

They shut the door behind them, the candles down into the chamber all catching alight and pressing a golden glow against the damp walls and cold skin. Reid's eyes flashed and the book of Damnation slid from it's dusty place in the shelves, floating steadily toward Reid's place in the circle. Kate refused to sit on any of the stone benches, choosing instead to stand beside Reid as he sat, watching him grab the levitating book out of the air and flick the covers open. She was staring at the familiar silver ring around his finger when she absently glanced down at his left wrist.

"You healed it. I just realised." she said, staring at it. It was marked with a dark red ring that appeared slightly purple in some areas, but it was obviously no longer broken. He shrugged.

"It was never broken. The doctor cut the cast off and said it would heal by itself. Our bodies heal themselves with the power in small doses, a dozen times or so faster than a regular person but not so rapidly that it's noticeable." he flicked through the pages not really paying attention to her.

"Yeah, but I bet he didn't know that." she said, the picture of a woman's hand welcoming a spider to bite her catching her attention, stirring old memories of the curse she'd been placed under. She shivered, noticing how Reid had stilled momentarily, before he continued flicking through the pages.

"Maybe," he started. "it wasn't a coincidence he was both my doctor and Tyler's." he said. "Probably some old ties with the family, probably paid off to make sure we're kept under lock and key and the secret about our healing stays hidden."

Kate shrugged. "So," she said, getting restless and forcing Reid to move over by pressing her leg to his knees. Sitting down, she slid the book further between them. "What exactly are we looking for."

"Something." Reid said, finger running down a page, pausing, then continuing. Kate seen that his finger had rested on the word 'Darkling' during the pause. She brushed his hand away when he went to turn the page.

"Something?" she said, squinting to read the spidery calligraphy. "How's this for 'something.' then." she started reading from the text. "A Darkling is a manifestation of different emotions and mental imagery projected through the power in the form of a person suffering from the absence of three evils 'See no, Hear no, Speak no'. This creature cannot harm or touch as it is a messenger, sent to instill a feeling of threat." she said, blinking. "Sounds scary."

"They are scary." he growled, taking the book away from her.

"You've seen one?" she asked, taking his silence as an affirmative. "Who sent it?"

"I don't know. It…was of Tyler." he said flicking the pages again, eyes scanning too fast to actually be reading or even skimming the words. Kate went to speak but decided against it. "Here, I think I found something you might like to hear."

Kate stared at the pictures rather than reading; the double pages contained about three inked images, all lacking extreme detail but were crudely drawn either way. The first was a side-long sketch of a pregnant woman. The child was visible curled inside the womb, it's eyes wide open and inked black.

The next picture, a few paragraphs below, contained a caption. It stated the name of a Garwin-married woman named Bronwin. She was pregnant and pushing her husband, Esidor Garwin who was also mentioned, away from her. He looked both angry and distraught. There was another woman in the background, but her face was twisted in a sneer and appeared as that of a demon, her clawed hands cradling a straw doll that appeared to be dripping blood.

The picture on the other page was of two women fighting. As she expected, the darker one appeared pregnant while the other had the face and hands of a demon. The demon-woman's outstretched claws were reaching for the swollen stomach of the other woman. The caption stated that this darker skinned woman was Shyre Putnam, one of Chase's ancestors, and the demon woman trying to rip out her unborn baby was simply named Alice. Shyre was holding a blade to Alice's throat, her other hand curled around her stomach protectively.

Suddenly, Reid stood up, taking the book with him. He looked pale, closing the book with his thumb marking the pages. "What is it?" she asked, and he swallowed thickly.

"I'm not sure if you want the good news or the bad news. Not even sure if you want the news at all." he said, giving her a wary look. She frowned, hands on the edges of the bench as though she were ready to push herself up and snatch the book from him. God knows he'd let her have it if she were that desperate, but she was thankful he was giving her the choice, and the warning.

"Good news."

"I found out why you couldn't stand Pogue touching you." he said, biting his lower lip.

She nodded slowly. "Now for the bad news."

"You wont like why." he said. She narrowed her eyes at him. He cleared his throat, waiting for her to do something, maybe waiting for her to say she didn't want to know. When she just stared at him expectantly, he cleared his throat nervously and propped the book up, preparing to read from it. He paused, frowning and slamming the book shut, throwing it angrily onto the ground, shouting in frustration.

"Reid!"

"Look, I'll put it as simply as I can. There will be no elaborations or explanations; you can come down here with Pogue and find out why all this is happening." he said, taking a deep breath. "Sometime over the previous week, Pogue's had sex with another person willingly. Judging by the strength of your reaction, he didn't regret it either."

Kate's eyes blazed, silent hatred flickering in the air between them, mutually directed elsewhere rather than one another. As Kate spoke, Reid found his spine tingling with a slight chill at her voice. "I'll kill him."

* * *

**Act VI**

Reid stared into the reflection of his rear-view mirror, sighing and drumming his fingers against the steering wheel. He'd parked his car on the edge of the forest outside of town. He'd just dropped Kate off back at the dormitories where she'd taken off without a word. He felt that he should fear for Pogue's life, but he was torn between fear and disgust for the other young man and could only hope that they sorted it out.

He hadn't found anything in the book that he hadn't already known aside from a small section on reading memories, dreams and hallucinations.

He'd seen the two necklaces that the Garwin family had safeguarded despite having no magical connections, one of which he had given to Tyler a while back. There was a section on hallucinations and how they're related to separation from certain members of the covenant. _Does death count as separation?_ he thought bitterly as he'd read it over again.

There had been a colourless photo of himself and Tyler pinned in the back with Mister Perry's shaky calligraphy scrawled at the bottom stating their names and the details of the event, which had been Tyler's thirteenth birthday when the youngest had ascended. The back was where all the photos were to document ascensions and special rituals the covenant decided to participate in, something about future reference for a book that a further generation would one day have no choice but to create.

The last he'd spotted was the Simms ring charmed to sense moods of those around the one who was wearing it, the same silver ring that Tyler's mother had given her son, the same one that was now on his finger, the washed-out green stone glittering.

He felt he should give it back to the Simms family, but he couldn't part with it.

He glanced down at his still healing wrist, though he hadn't felt any pain in it or his shoulder since waking. His ankle also seemed to be fine, aside from a certain stiffness in cooler temperatures and a slight twinge of pain when he tried to stand on the ball of his foot.

He considered going to the doctor and inquiring about everything; he wanted to know how much pain Tyler would have been in during his last moments. He wanted to know if Tyler would have even noticed the slip between the removal of the life support and his forced survival. He just wanted to know.

The sun was setting, he realised. The sky was a smatter of colours, as though someone had gone happy with tubes of paint on a pallet. But even as the temperature started to cool, small flakes of snow sticking to the windshield and melting against his skin as a light breeze blew through the open window, and as the sky started to darken in the east, seconds melting to hours with the passing speed of minutes, he couldn't find the desire to go home.

His mobile vibrated in his pocket, hand sliding inside to grasp it. He pressed the talk button, holding it to his ear.

'_Where are you.'_

"Gee, no hello or anything. Who is this." he said tiredly, rubbing a fist against his eyes.

'_It's Nathaniel. Tyler's father.'_

"Oh, hi dad." Reid murmured out of old habit, glancing at the digital clock in his car while he changed sides, holding the phone to his other ear. "I'm just outside of town."

'_What are you doing?'_

"Just sitting here. No cars have come past in over an hour, it's really peaceful." he murmured, fingering the ring around his finger.

'_Alright, you have to listen to me.' _the man said, but his voice was blurred as the phone rung again in Reid's ear. _'It's important, you-'_

"Sorry, I'll have to call you back, someone else is calling." he said, cutting him off. He hit the line-switch button, holding the phone to his ear. "Yo."

'_Reid, get home now.'_

The blonde rolled his eyes. "Look, Caleb… I'm enjoying myself right now, I'll come home when I'm ready."

'_No you wont. Come home now, right now Reid.'_

"You don't own me." Reid hissed, catching a slight movement out of the corner of his eye. Turning to the passenger seat beside him, he dropped the phone with a startled cry when the creature's blank dead eyes met with his. The Tyler-Darkling reached out to touch Reid, hand falling just short, mouth opening in a silent scream, it's shoulders sagging in defeat.

It almost looked…sad.

It disappeared as wisps of smoke that dispersed through the window until it was no longer visible. Wiping his brow of sweat, trembling clammy hands tried to hold onto the phone only to have it slip out of his grasp. Finally managing to get a grip of it, he held it to his ear, breathing harshly. Caleb was silent for several moments before he spoke.

'_I think you'll find that I do.'_

The dial tone had sounded for a full minute before Reid threw the phone, not caring where it landed or what it hit. His hands slammed the car steering wheel, sounding the horn, feet kicking the pedals and the floor. He covered his face with his hands, taking a deep shaky breath to calm himself and settling back into the chair, one hand covering half of his face, eyes misty with tears staring at his reflection in the side mirror.

He spotted a car coming up along the road, and laughed bitterly. _Oh you own me, huh?_ he thought angrily. _I hope you took out insurance, Caleb._ He stared at the mirror, watching the car coming closer. OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR.

Jumping out of the car, door slamming shut behind him, he watched the car approaching until it was barely a few metres away. It was speeding, but most cars did on long stretches of deserted road in the middle of nowhere.

_Sorry mate, _he thought, stepping out onto the road and then darting in front of the vehicle. _But I'm about to wreck your life._ He didn't feel anything other than pain as the car, screeching on the brakes, collided with his body.

He was laying on the tarmac several metres away from where he'd been standing, the car swerving dangerously and halting on the brakes not to far down the road. The driver, a young man, jumped out of the car and ran toward him.

Everything in his body felt pain, everything was bleeding and broken. He laughed, blood gurgling in his mouth as he did. "No hard feelings," he said when the man came closer. "it wasn't you, it was me." he joked, his laughter halting at the abrupt pain in his chest. He groaned in pain, eyes blurring and mind darkening.

* * *

**Act VII**

Caleb held the end of the phone to his mouth, staring absently out the window of his lounge room. Pogue, who was lounged on the chair beside him, was watching him with a blank look on his face, having heard Caleb's part of the conversation.

Finally, the other man sighed to himself. "Tyler's funeral is tomorrow." he said quietly. "Are you gonna go?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?" Caleb asked, setting the phone down on the coffee table before him. Pogue pulled his feet up onto the couch, wrapping his arms around his legs as though he were cold. He waited until Caleb met his gaze before replying.

"Don't you feel guilty at all?" he asked, shaking his head incredulously. Caleb shrugged, picking at the sleeve of his jumper.

"Of course I do."

"Don't lie. Look me in the eye and tell me, honestly, that you feel guilty." the younger male demanded. Caleb looked at Pogue, about to open his mouth and repeat the words, but he found they wouldn't pass his lips.

"He was in my way." Caleb said finally, glaring hard at the phone on the table. Pogue scoffed.

"Tyler, Baby boy, was in _your _way. Jesus Christ, do you even hear yourself talk sometimes? What could he possibly have been stopping you from getting, huh?" Caleb didn't answer, gritting his teeth and directing his power at the fireplace, lighting it. Pogue didn't even notice the small increase in heat, still glaring at the older warlock. "Tell me, Caleb."

Once again, Caleb didn't reply. His hands fisted at his side and he closed his eyes, temple throbbing and the beat of power thrumming under his skin. He wanted to lash out, so badly did he want to hurt the one sitting next to him. He didn't want to answer, he didn't have to answer. It was as though he'd become a new species of human, one where every sight, sound and smell is enhanced, ever touch and taste is sinful, every thought is dangerous and every movement is instinct. The power was driving him.

And the more Pogue persisted, the harder it was to hold back. He didn't _want_ to hold back. He wouldn't keep it in much longer. One more push was all he could take.

"Caleb, answer me! Why did you kill Tyler!"

"Because he had Reid!"

* * *

**A/N:** Alright, so I guess this complicates things a bit. There was a big hint in this chapter that practically waves a red banner and screams 'remember me', but lets not go into that. It'll be a surprise.

Next chapter is Tyler's funeral and Caleb gets even nastier, so all had better prepare for an intense and emotional confrontation between Caleb and our beloved blonde. Also, a person who made a brief appearance in this chapter is revealed in the next one. Not to mention Pogue gets a smack in the chops both literally and figuratively.

I'm going to start going to a group in Wollongong called '_On Stage_'. It's held every thursday at the youth centre; I'm just going to go to watch and talk to people for a few weeks then Kakashi1595 and I will make up some sort of dance/drama skit and perform. It's so cool, everyone there who is performing is between twelve and twenty-four, there are talent scouts there as well. It's for dancers, actors, musicians, comedians, and any kid who has entertainment talent. Besides, my parents think I should be more social. Should be fun!

Anyway, hope you liked the chapter. Reviews are love,  
**MK**


	8. VIII: How Do Stars Die

**The Last Heart  
MyurraK**

_**From the Ugliest of Crimes comes the most Beautiful and Deadly of them all**_

**Chapter VIII  
How Do Stars Die**

**Act I**

_'__I told you to wait for me, you should have just waited.'_

Reid groaned, the first thing he noticed was that he was lying on his back and it was uncomfortable. He tilted his hips to the side slightly, feeling the arch in his back disappear and his spine straighten out. Light filtered through the blinds and across his face, his stinging and aching face.

Images of the front of a car speeding toward him, memories of the pain when the vehicle collided with his body invaded his mind without a moment's warning and struck him with a shock he hadn't felt before. Something like static crackled over his body as he sat up too quickly.

His head pounded and he groaned, attempting to reach up to grab his head when he caught sight of his hands. Little sparks of electricity jumped from the tip of one finger to another, small tingles of energy melting into his flesh. He felt…

…great… He felt great!

There wasn't an ounce of pain in his entire body, and once the dizziness of his head-rush wore off he realised he was actually in his own bed, his room no longer seeming so cold all of a sudden. He pressed his static fingers to his lips, jumping with a small start at the buzz he felt, like pressing your tongue to the end of a battery. There was a scab on his lip that he couldn't help running his tongue over, and after feeling the tightness around his chest and stomach and glancing down he seen a white bandage wrapped tightly around his entire torso.

He blinked, realising that to have these injuries he had to have really been hit by that car, but that collision should have killed him for sure. And with the power that sizzled over his body and left small sparks of electricity bounding over his skin, he knew that whoever saved him had to have had the power as well.

_'__You aren't going anywhere, Reid.'_ _the young man said, blatantly ignoring the blonde's words. 'You really should have just waited for me.'_

The front door downstairs slammed open and the familiar stride of Kate made it's way up the stairs and toward the bedroom, but Reid barely raised his head in acknowledgment of the young woman as she entered the room.

Kate frowned, wiping under her eyes one last time and straightening her black dress before approaching the bed where her friend was sitting, staring dazedly out the window. Maybe Reid wasn't going to go?

"Reid, are you alright?" she asked, sitting on the end of the bed when she got no answer. She cleared her shaky throat, wiping the moisture that leaked from her eyes one more time, not caring about smudging her makeup, and reached over to him. "C'mon, we have to get you ready." she said.

It seemed Reid hadn't heard her at all because when he turned around, his eyes were glittering and his split lip was pulled into a grin. He grabbed her hands, holding them together. "He saved me." he said. Kate's eyes took in her friend, taking note of all the bruises and the bandage wrapped around his body.

"What happened?" she asked, staring him in the eyes. They were darker than usual, but more alert. She briefly wondered if strapping Reid down would keep him from injuring himself, but remembered that he could just Use and escape if he truly wanted.

"I was hit by a car and he saved me." he said, a tear of relief rolling down his cheek. "He's alive, Tyler's alive!"

* * *

**Act II**

Pogue looked down as Tarren Simms passed him to take a seat in a row closer to the front. She looked pale and washed out, her eyes red-rimmed with tears. Beside her, her husband Nathaniel Simms kissed the back of her hand and stroked her hair gently, a broken expression on his face. Pogue realised just how much like his father Tyler had looked.

Despite his years, Nathaniel definitely looked the youngest among the previous covenant generation, with Caleb's father dead already and Pogue's pushing grey. Reid got his love for little things the power could do from his father, so it was no surprise the blonde man looked slightly older than his almost constant companion in Tyler's father. Pogue figured that it was because the Garwin man only used his power for small things, kind of like the release in a pressure valve, that he didn't age as much as one would think.

When Pogue had first met the Garwin man, despite being the oldest of the group he had looked the youngest.

The church walls were almost too high, the shape of the building creating the optical illusion that the walls and ceiling were curving to an internal apex. To Pogue, it felt as though the entire building was about to collapse on him, but he took comfort in the fact that the heavens wouldn't punish all these other grievers for what he and Caleb had done.

At the very front of the church, a closed mahogany coffin sat innocently among bundles of orange spotted lilies, velvety white roses and blue cornflowers the same colour Tyler's eyes had once been. Candles sat burning at different heights all around the church, melted wax dribbling down the sides and fasting them on the holders. The lacquered wood seemed to writhe under the light, but it had to just be a trick of the light.

There were a few familiar faces around the church, one of which was the Doctor that had taken care of Reid and Tyler in the hospital; or tried to at least. At one of the back rows of the church Caleb sat staring at the coffin with a mix of solemn regret and a jealous sadness that Pogue couldn't quite calculate.

As far as he could tell, Caleb hadn't directly said he felt any remorse or self hate for killing their youngest brother, but he hadn't seemed pleased with himself about it either. The only thing he seemed glad about was that Reid was no longer glued to anyone's side.

It all made sense now; why couldn't he have seen it before? He could have protected Reid and Tyler, he could have told Reid something else in Nicky's bathroom that day. He wouldn't have told them to just come out, they wouldn't have risked it. _He_ wouldn't have risked it.

After Caleb's confession, it all clicked into place. It wasn't him Caleb wanted, it was Reid. And now his relationship with Kate was sabotaged from the inside out; how could he ever so much as hold her hand again without remembering that, for just the slightest moment, he'd hoped it had been Caleb in her place?

He remembered yesterday afternoon, Caleb giving him that strained look that told him everything. Caleb couldn't help it, he was _insane_. There was something seriously wrong with their leader mentally; the power had done something to him.

Even if it had been an accident, Caleb had wanted to hurt Tyler. And even if he hadn't been pushed past his limit that night, the chances swinging from 'hit' to 'miss' were no doubt going to land against their favour one day. Tyler and Reid never had a chance, unless Caleb was dead.

Pogue felt himself itching to spill Caleb's blood, even if it was as little as a split lip. A deep seed of loathing had been planted in his chest and was starting to grow. But the branches of this 'hate tree' he'd created inside himself was branching not only toward Caleb but toward himself as well.

The doors to the church opened, and Kate was the first person Pogue could see, beside her with an arm linked through hers was Reid. If it had been anyone else, Pogue felt he would have been immensely threatened, but just because it was the same blonde haired Garwin he'd known since Tyler's sixth birthday, the one who had just lost his lover of who knows how many years, didn't stop him from feeling the jab of jealously and possessiveness when he'd walked in beside her.

The woman he loved, but also the one that wouldn't look at him and the one he couldn't meet in the eye.

Reid's head hung low and he refused to look up to meet anyone's gazes. Pogue didn't even register seeing Tarren standing, and before Lillian and Mathew could beat them at getting to their son, she was racing up the isle, Nathaniel right behind her.

She grabbed his face in her hands, tears streaming down her face as she kissed his cheek, pulling back and holding the blonde's head to her chest, whispering 'I'm sorry' over and over again into his hair. Nathaniel stood behind her, a hand on both Reid's and his wife's shoulder. Mathew and Lillian, who stared teary-eyed at the couple and their son, sat down slowly and watched along with the rest of the people there.

Reid's hand came to Nathaniel's wrist, gripping it tightly and burying his face into the raven-haired woman's shoulder. Pogue jumped, startled, as Kate sat down beside him, her dark furious eyes staring to the front, tears glittering on her face in the candlelight. He opened his mouth to say something to her, but she held her hand up to silence him, confusing him greatly.

"I'll rip your throat out later; right now Reid needs our support." she said. He frowned.

"What did I do?" he asked, eyes flickering over her dark face. She took a deep breath.

"He woke up covered in wounds, swearing to me that Tyler was alive. Coming here finally broke his heart in two, but I'm worried about his what it's doing to his mind." she said instead. "I can't believe you did this to him, both of you." This time, when he was about to say something, a strangled almost desperate shout snapped their attention like magnets.

"Reid!" Nathaniel's voice called desperately, reaching out to grab the young man as he ran up the isle to the front. "No!" he shouted.

Reid ignored everything and everyone around him, lifting the first lid to the coffin. He stood completely still, knuckles white in their grip on the lid of the coffin, his body blocking the view. Lillian sobbed, burying her face in her husband's chest. Evelyn Danvers covered her mouth with a shaky hand, eyes wide and staring.

At first, Pogue couldn't see that Reid had any reaction at all. His heart was beating in his chest rapidly like a drum, hope coursing through his veins. Was the casket empty? "No…" he murmured to himself, seconds before Reid sunk to his knees, a fist thumping against the ground, the other inside the coffin.

Ignoring Kate pulling at him Pogue stood and passed her, stepping through the others who stood by unwilling to move. His eyes caught a small movement over the other side of the rows of seats. A little boy with dark hair and indigo eyes was walking in time with him. His eyes stayed on the little boy, and when he finally stopped at Reid's side, the boy stood beside Evelyn unnoticed by the woman at the very end of the front row of seats.

The boy smiled faintly, raising both hands and covering his eyes. Pogue went to say something but one of the boy's hands dropped, the other moving to hold a finger to his lips. The boy turned and ran, disappearing among the other people. What was the child trying to tell him?

He remembered where he was and turned to Reid, reaching out to rest a hand against the blonde's shoulder. He hesitated momentarily, remembering that Reid didn't seem to trust anyone other than Kate, before sighing and grabbing his shoulder gently.

His eyes flickered up to see where Reid's other hand was. His breath choked in his throat when he caught sight of Tyler. The boy looked just like he had in that hospital; pale and cold, no life in his entire body. Only this time it was real. Tyler was really dead.

His hair was splayed out and falling over his forehead; he'd let his hair grow over the last two months so it was a fair bit longer than it used to be. His lips which were usually deep in colour, probably near constantly swollen from kissing, were dry and pale, parted slightly. There was no small smile of relief he'd seen on his grandparent's faces at their funerals, no look of intensely deep sleep in paradise. Tyler was just dead.

As gently as possible, he removed Reid's hand from Tyler's chest, closing the lid of the casket gently and kneeling behind the younger warlock. He hesitated before drawing Reid into a tight embrace, and although it was obvious Reid knew it was him from the way he tensed at first, he held his brother just as tightly.

"I'm so, so sorry Reid."

"I know."

"It's not your fault."

"…I…I know…"

Pogue knew Reid had lied. Reid didn't really know.

* * *

**Act III**

Reid held a piece of wood in his hands, the candle melted to it glowing brightly. He stared at it, running his finger through the welcoming yellow flame as he watched from the corner of his eye as the other members of the families lowered their own candles into the water.

Kate, with her hand rubbing her flat stomach gently, eased her candle into the flowing river, a small tear cascading over her skin as she pressed a kiss to her fingers, laying her fingers over the wood for a few seconds before pushing it away from the bank and into the current.

He shrugged his father's hand off his shoulder, dropping bonelessly onto his knees by the river bank as though he just couldn't hold his own weight up any longer. He glanced across the stretch of water where other residents of Ipswich were lowering their own candles into the river at different places, the black water reflecting the night sky above only with hundreds more stars that floated down toward the small set of falls where their flames would be extinguished.

He could see from there the familiar faces of some of their schoolmates, and watched incredulously when Aaron and each of his cronies lowered their own tall red and white candles to the water, Aaron wrapping something around his candle before pushing it away. He stayed there for a moment, crouched low and watching with an unusual tight-lipped expression, before his head hung and he stood up, walking out of Reid's sight.

Reid sat back cross-legged onto the grass, the piece of wood on his lap and the heat from the small flame hitting his face as he watched the entire event with tears burning but unwilling to fall. A few metres away, Caleb lowered a light blue candle toward the water. His hand paused, holding the wood just above the surface for a moment before he closed his eyes and bit his lip, the wood pressing gently against the rippling water.

"Son, the longer you wait the shorter the candle will burn." Lillian said gently behind him, the blonde woman wrapping a blanket over his shoulders and walking away, the sensation of her warm hand against his back fading slowly.

He hadn't said anything since he'd seen Tyler's dead body for himself. Nothing made sense to him anymore, he could have sworn it was Tyler who'd saved him yesterday, that it was Tyler who'd whispered in his ear the night before. He'd sensed Tyler's presence more than once, there was no way he could be dead. But then he'd seen the proof; the cold shell of the young man he'd loved for years.

He held the blanket over his shoulders with one hand, the other reaching out and laying the wood in the water, watching it stall for a moment before he pushed it into the current, his thick white candle floating out toward the centre where it burnt the brightest.

He had been the last person on their bank to add their candle, and behind him he could hear a crackling bonfire being lit, revelling in the scent of burnt wood and sweet smelling grass and trees, crisp cold night air holding them all in a tight grip of sadness and remembrance.

On the other banks, as the last of the candles were lowered in the water, bonfires were lit and while some people lined up by the water, watching the candles glitter like little mythical fey creatures, swirling and leading the way to the life after death, a happy illusion for a sad ending, others circled around the bonfires.

They say that a funeral is the only party that's ever held for you that everyone knows you wont make it to.

Reid remained seated on the bank, one foot skimming the water and the other tucked underneath him, a hand absently pulling and twisting at the grass while the second held his weight. He watched the other banks, thinking to himself.

Pogue sat beside him, a hand covering his own to stop him ripping at the grass. Reid gave a breathy chuckle, shaking his head and meeting Pogue's eyes and, for the first time in over a week, he wasn't afraid. And for the first time that evening, he found words crawling up his throat.

"Do you think it's ironic that Tyler's the life of this party instead of me?" he asked, before his voice took on a bitter, hurt tone. "And that this party is as dead as he is." Pogue ignored him, giving a tight, emotionless smile before turning his gaze to the river, sliding his hand off Reid's.

"No, I don't." he said. "See those lights? Those ones we lowered into the water?" waving a hand out to them. "And the ones behind us? They signify the life we still feel inside and around us, the life that belongs to him. Everyone leaves a mark on the world, some better or more than others. But each and every person in this town came and lowered a candle into the river tonight; it's our way of keeping him alive."

Reid smiled, but scoffed nonetheless. "Pogue, you know I love you. You're like a brother to me, and despite what you did or didn't do, you are probably one of the only people I will ever listen to." Pogue smiled gently, " What you just said will stay with me, but…" the smile faded slightly, "Tyler's dead. And though I'll never forget him, I can't, I _wont, _live believing he's still alive in my heart."

Pogue was silent for a moment. "Kate told me you truly believed he was still alive." he said, seeing Reid's gaze flicker to him out of the corner of the blonde's eye. "Do you still believe he is?"

"I just seen his dead body. He's gone." Reid relented slowly. "Nothing my mind does now can make me believe otherwise."

* * *

**Act IV**

"Reid." the voice came from behind, startling the blonde warlock. He grit his teeth after glancing over his shoulder, folding his arms over his chest and rubbing his arms to keep him warm. He was staring out his bedroom window, watching the moon and the stars, the latter of which seemed to have doubled overnight.

"Get out" he said, the strength of his voice wavering only slightly "of my house." Caleb frowned angrily, a hand coming to the base of Reid's neck and throwing him against the window.

The glass didn't shatter thankfully, but the sharpness of the pain when he knocked the scab on his lip was enough to make him gasp in pain. Straightening himself out, he glared at the small swipe of blood on the glass of his window, turning around and sneering, dark grey eyes flashing maliciously, not an ounce of sweet blue left in them.

"You gonna hurt me now, Caleb." he said, ignoring the blood rolling down his chin and spilling into his mouth. Caleb clenched his jaw, muscles in his face tense and blackened eyes narrowed. He snarled, but lowered his readied fists instead and looked to the wall.

"Only if you make me." he spat, refusing to look back at the younger male. Reid wiped the blood from his lip and chin, lolling his tongue over it and tasting the metallic salty reminder of why he didn't trust the man in front of him.

"What do you want." he said simply.

"It's time for you to move on." Reid grit his teeth angrily but withheld any comment he was going to make. Caleb looked up at him then, eyes jaded to their natural dark brown. "I have no patience left."

"You killed Tyler." was all Reid could say. "You killed Tyler so you could get to me. What did you think I was just going to come running to you? No wonder I cant stand the sight of your face!" Reid shouted, throwing a fist foreword and expecting it to connect. It didn't, and when he opened his eyes again, shocked back into their normal moonstone colour, he stared between his fist caught in Caleb's hand and Caleb's eyes.

"Why cant you stand me? Is it because I killed Tyler, or because I remind you of him." Reid made a startled noise in the back of his throat, unsure of how to answer. His wide eyes flickered between each of Caleb's own, finding himself feeling incredibly outmatched.

It wasn't until he found his thoughts of which had roamed into how much Tyler and Caleb resembled one another start to lure him in that he shook his head and snapped out of it. Caleb looked nothing like Tyler, he was playing with his head again!

He was about to open his mouth and say as much when Caleb stopped him, pressing their lips together. Against his better judgement, he relaxed his body despite his mind whirring on ways to get out of this. Caleb took his chance and threw Reid to the floor, straddling him and ruining any previous ideas the blonde had had.

Reid cried out in protest, but Caleb pressed a finger to his lips, commanding his attention silently. "I don't want to have to hurt you. But you're going to make me hurt you, I know it. Your spirit is too wild, it refuses to give in." he said, smiling softly down at the blonde as he admired the younger man's face.

The finger left Reid's lips, tracing them and then his jawbone. Reid's eyes almost fluttered closed out of memory of sweet touches that were identical to his skin, but not to his mind. In his mind, Caleb was still the monster that hid in closets and under his bed when he was a child.

"Caleb…" he breathed. The older male stared down at him, surprised. Reid's hands snaked up his arms, gently brushing the nape of his neck and moving to trace his face. "…get off me." both hands moved back around Caleb's neck, squeezing hard and shoving Caleb's torso away from him with force. He rolled his hip to the side, throwing Caleb's weight off him and turning to run.

Quicker than he thought possible, Caleb had his arms wrapped around Reid's from behind, holding the struggling blonde against his body as he waited for him to calm. "I'm sorry it came to this, I'm sorry I couldn't control it. I'm sorry I killed Tyler! But it was _never_ your fault Reid!"

'_Tell me it's my fault over and over again. And then say 'never', just one time.'_

Reid suddenly stopped struggling, all thoughts of getting away faded away into the distance, Caleb's words vibrating through his mind and echoing through his voice. "It…wasn't my fault?" he asked.

Reid nearly gasped in realisation. It had never occurred to him just how much he blamed himself for what had happened, his mind clinging to the hope that the guilt wasn't his, clinging to the hope that Tyler was still alive. Or maybe the thought that it should have been him instead of his lover that had died at the hands of Caleb, whose priorities were blurred even to himself.

"No," Caleb said breathlessly, shocked at Reid's sudden compliance. "It wasn't."

All that hate he had thought he felt for Tyler, it was all gone. All that hate he knew he felt for himself mysteriously disappeared. Caleb, the one who had denied being at fault, was admitting the fault wasn't Reid's but his own.

For some reason he couldn't comprehend, his emotions got the best of him, and for the first time he couldn't help but let it out. He screamed and shouted angrily, ripping at his own skin, at the bandages on his torso and the clothes on his body until Caleb finally let him go. His hands tore at his hair and scratched at his eyes, until finally he lost the energy to attack himself anymore. He pressed his face to the ground, still on his knees but curled up into himself. His bloodied fingertips dug into the carpet, and his tears stained the scuffed and torn knees of his jeans.

"It's not your fault." Caleb said gently, crawling up behind Reid and wrapping his arms around the other male's waist. Reid was only barely aware of the hands undoing the fly of his jeans, or the cold fingers that brushed his hips as those jeans were slid down and exposing his skin.

Caleb's hot breath tickled his cheek, and he turned his face away and into the carpet, exposing his pale nape but hiding his shame. The other warlock's lips and teeth bit into his neck, piercing the skin and jabbing his nerves with pain.

That pain was nothing in comparison to what he felt next. Reid screamed into the carpet, biting into his own knee to silence himself. He grabbed at the carpet, desperately trying to cling to something. Swinging an arm behind him, he grabbed at Caleb's shirt, trying to pull him off despite knowing he didn't have the strength. Instead he resorted to just tearing into it with his fingers, as Caleb was tearing into him. He tried to sit up, to throw Caleb off, but the other man's large hands pressed into his back and held him down firmly.

"It's not your fault." he said again, and Reid couldn't help but repeat the words to himself in his head.

The older warlock didn't spare him, didn't consider his fear of being entered the way he was, didn't care for his cries of pain and pleas to stop. Reid didn't feel himself stretching so much as tearing to accustom the sudden assault on his unprepared body, tightly strung muscles protesting more than he'd ever be able to voice.

The cries stopped in his throat almost as abruptly as they'd started, he simply stared listlessly at the dark barely lit room that moved around in his vision. He let go of Caleb's shirt, reaching out for something glittering on the ground. It was the pendant, the one that matched the one he'd given Tyler.

He grabbed it and brought it to his lips, eyes sliding closed as tears dropped from his eyes onto the carpet, the force of Caleb's thrusts forcing him further and further out of his protective ball and into a lifeless mindless position like that of a discarded ball-joint doll.

The scent of blood, sweat and sex burned his nostrils, Caleb's usually smooth liquid voice turned hoarse with lust grunted and groaned his pleasure. The thought only filled Reid with a sense of disgust that dissolved too quickly for him to hang onto. He absently thought to himself that his jeans would need replacing, that they'd be too soiled to save and that they'd never be worn again without the memories. He knew he'd never replace them.

Finally Caleb's body tensed and then relaxed, sated at last. Reid didn't move to cover himself or to clean the mess of fluids running down between his legs. He rolled onto his side, but didn't curl into himself, staring intently at the pendant in his hand. For a brief second he wondered if Pogue had heard him two houses down, but realised he didn't care if he had.

Caleb stood over him, dressed and watching him. Reid wished he knew there would have been regret on the face of the man he'd thought was and loved as if he were a brother, but something died in him when he could only accept that Caleb couldn't feel regret, not for this. Not for what he believed was his right to do.

The other man sighed to himself, a hitch in his breath like he was about to cry. Reid laughed bitterly at the sound, the laugh broken like static from his screams. "What's the matter, _Caleb_? Wishing you held out longer?" he asked, hand clenching around the pendant. "I bet you just loved the feeling of me writhing beneath you. Want to go again, before you forget what it feels like to be inside me?"

Caleb's warm hand pressed to the nape of Reid's neck, where he'd bitten into the flesh earlier. "It's not your fault." was all he said before the hand disappeared and the person it belonged to left, a cold house that smelt faintly of sex standing firm behind him as he approached his own house.

Minutes later, Reid gave one last bitter broken laugh, shivering from the cold. "Yeah, you raped me Caleb and it wasn't my fault." he said, pressing his lips to the bloodied pendant when he uncurled his fingers. "How am I supposed to believe that?"

He fell asleep on the carpet, staring out through the window and at the stars above. There seemed to be less stars than before; he wondered what they did to deserve to die.

* * *

**Act V**

Pogue sat on Sarah's bed, glad the blonde girl wasn't in her room when he and Kate came back to it. At first he thought they were going to have it out, or more she was going to have it out and he was going to sit there like a reprimanded child while she took her anger out on him.

'_I'll rip your throat out later.'_

With Kate straddling his lap and pressing her lips passionately to his, Pogue couldn't help but think that she had odd methods of ripping someone's throat out, before concluded she was trying to do it from the inside with her tongue and he wasn't going to try and stop her.

She rocked her hips into his, making him groan and pull away from the kiss. Against his lips, she said "Are you thinking about them right now?"

Pogue's eyes snapped open, his attention solely on her. "Wh…huh?"

"Who have you been fucking? Was it Sarah? Kira maybe? Oh, I know. It was Caleb, wasn't it." he pressed his hands against her shoulders, pushing her away. He immediately craved the heat of her body, but stopped himself from pulling her back to him.

"What are you…how did you know I…"

"Your son told me." she said darkly, eyes narrowed. For a moment he was scared that maybe he'd been careless one of the times he'd been with another woman, before he realised that there was a strange glow about her again. Her skin seemed more golden than brown, and her dark eyes were fiery.

"Wait, what am I missing here?"

"I'm _pregnant, _you son of a _bitch_!" she screamed, backhanding him across the jaw. "I've given you everything from my love to my fidelity, and now I'm giving you the rest of my god damned life because once I have a kid it's _all over_. And you go and let _Caleb_ screw you up the arse?" she shouted, not caring if neighbouring roommates could hear everything she said.

Pogue looked as though he'd considerably deflated, a hand cupped to his cheek as he stared up at her. She stood over him now, hands on her hips, dark hair falling like a heavy curtain over her shoulders, eyes no less angry than they had been moments before.

"I didn't mean to." he said quietly. The anger slid off her face, and she gave him a soft almost understanding look. "He just…he knows all the right things to say and do. He knows how to get under your skin and refrains from crawling back out."

"I know." she said, moving to sit on his lap and holding his head to her chest. "That's why I'm worried. If he's already killed Tyler then Reid's next."

Pogue shook his head. "He doesn't want to kill Reid. He wanted to take him from Tyler." Kate swallowed thickly, realising just how much everything made sense now. A shiver worked up her body as though someone had held something cold to the base of her spine, the hairs on her neck bristling with a distinct unconformability for the conversation.

They sat like that, silently, for almost ten minutes before Pogue smiled up at Kate, resting the flat of his hand on her stomach. "So, you're really pregnant?" she smiled back and nodded, sliding off his lap and holding her hand out to him.

"Stay with me tonight."

It never occurred to Pogue that Reid needed his help.

* * *

**Act VI**

"Reid?" Mathew Garwin called out when they stepped into the foyer.

Lillian knew as soon as she stepped into her son's home that something was wrong. Beside her Mathew tensed, sensing it too. He closed the door behind him and they both moved toward the staircase, glancing around for any sign of their son.

Since the funeral ceremony they'd been terrified for their son. Poor Tarren and Nathaniel had tried to warn Reid but he ignored them and opened the casket, proving to himself the true tricks of the mind. They found themselves at the top of the stairs and heading into the bedroom.

Instantly Lillian found her eyes attracted to the red.

There was a smudge of red on the window, and there was more on the carpet, a pair of jeans stained with dark blood and an off-white unthinkable substance lay kicked off to the side of the room. While she went to investigate them, trying to affirm her suspicions by glancing at the patches of dried fluids on the carpet, Mathew detoured toward the bed.

The blonde man got down on his hands and knees, glancing under the bed where she heard a surprised squeak come from. One she remembered from many years ago, when he was a child.

"Will you come out, my son?" Mathew asked, holding out a relaxed soft hand. She got on her knees, blonde hair falling over her face and brushing the carpet as she watched.

Her teenage, almost adult son was cowered under the bed in nothing but a long sleeved shirt that went down below his knees, streaks of dried blood were on his face, his blue eyes wide and trusting as he reached out to grab his father's hand.

The door downstairs slammed open and Reid flinched, letting go of Mathew's hand and tucking them both over his head to make a shield, protecting himself from the world. "Hello? Mister and Missus Garwin?" the voice was familiar to them, but it only made Reid shiver worse.

Lillian took a few moments, but she gestured with her head for her husband to follow her, and they left their son in his room while they went downstairs. She shakily called out to the other boy. "Yes, Caleb?" she said, hand trembling on the banister as she and her husband descended the stairs, Mathew staying higher up than she did.

"Oh, I was just going to say hello." he said, eyes flickering upstairs. She bit her lip, deciding to lie for her son's safety.

"Hello, dear. We were just looking for our son, you haven't seen him have you?" she asked, hearing her husband's quiet warning growl from behind her. Caleb smiled sweetly, relief clear in his eyes.

"No, I haven't. He might be with Kate, he spends a lot of time with her." he said, waving to them. "I better go now; mum wants me to call by. If I see Reid, I'll tell him you were looking for him." she smiled.

"Thankyou, hon. Say 'hello' to Evelyn for me."

As soon as the door closed, she gagged and ignored the bile in her throat, alongside her husband she raced back up the stairs and toward Reid's room, opening the door only to see that the door to the bathroom was ajar and the sound of the shower filled the air along with steam from under the door.

Mathew sat on the bed, staring darkly at the blood and semen on the floor, nodding to his wife who tentatively entered the bathroom. She glanced at the discarded shirt and bandage on the floor, before clearing her throat quietly so she didn't scare him.

"Reid, sweety. Can I come in?" she asked. He made a startled sound from inside the shower, and she approached the door to it. He opened it suddenly, not caring about is wet or naked state as he threw his arms around his mother, sobbing loudly.

She rubbed a hand soothingly over his back, placating him with quiet noises she used to make when he was a child. "Ma…I, I'm so sorry…" he managed, shivering from the cold. She held him to herself tightly, moving them so that they were both sitting on the tiled floor inside the shower, closing her eyes and not caring about the water destroying her hair or her makeup, or that her dress would have to be changed when they got out.

"Shh, let it all out. I'm here, I wont leave you." she said gently. "My boy, my son, we love you so much." outside the shower door, her husband sat down on the bathmat, reaching in and running a hand through his grown son's wet hair and staring his wife in the eyes.

"Son, no matter what happened, or what happens, we love you just the same. You're no different to us than you were when you were born." the man said, smiling gently at his wide-eyed son who met his eyes when he lifted his head of Lillian's shoulder.

"Except I'm too old to be having a shower with my mother…" he said lightly in reply, the amused smile that met both of his parents' faces making him relax in their company all the more, his indecency aside.

"Somehow I don't think you'll ever be too old." Lillian added, pressing her lips to her son's forehead.

* * *

**Act VII**

Aaron was browsing the magazines at the corner shop when he spotted a child that seemed awfully familiar to him. Around the boy's neck a thick double-linked silver chain sat innocently. The boy met his gaze and grinned, holding his hands over his ears as he walked out the door.

Aaron forgot the magazine he was going to buy, racing out the door and calling out. "Kid, hey kid!" he shouted, gaze searching for the dark head of hair on the mostly deserted street. The boy looked back at him and gestured with his hand to follow.

Normally Aaron wouldn't have cared, but he distinctly remembered tying that necklace around a candle the night before and sending that candle down a waterfall. So unless that kid could swim really good there was no chance he could have had it.

He wasn't supposed to have it.

With a backward glance to see if anyone he knew had spotted him, he found his feet leading him in the direction he knew the kid had gone. Every so often the kid would stop, jumping up and down excitedly and waving for him to follow.

It didn't bother him so much until the kid started playing hopscotch while waiting for him to catch up if he was too far behind. The kid was moving at an almost inhuman speed, at least for someone so small.

They ended up near the old stone footbridge that went over the river, leading straight into the forest. It seemed that was where the kid wanted to go, but Aaron couldn't help but think if maybe he was falling for some sort of trick. He'd heard of psychotic killers and perverse kidnappers using children to lure people like himself in.

The kid disappeared through the trees, and he found himself running. "Hey, Kid! Wait up!"

The trees grew tall here, and it was strangely spacious despite his usual claustrophobia when it came to forests. He felt exposed, and incredibly lost when he found he wasn't really chasing anyone anymore. He couldn't see the kid, who was probably hiding behind a tree somewhere.

He didn't even know his way back.

He turned around in circles slowly, unable to see a familiar path. Everything here was damp and green, a slight fog hung in the air. Suddenly, his neck prickled like someone was watching him. He turned around, glaring around at the trees.

"Come out, Kid. I'm not going to play games."

"Good; I didn't want you to." the 'kid' stepped out from behind the tree, but he was no longer a kid but rather someone incredibly familiar. The same guy who had humiliated him in the locker room months ago. He grit his teeth, spotting the necklace around the man's neck.

"Collins." he spat.

"Abbot" the man replied curtly, nodding his head. Aaron clenched his fists, ready to take on this guy.

"Where's the kid." he demanded through clenched teeth, before staring Chase up and down. The kid _was _Chase. He growled, deciding to ask a different question, one that made Chase rather happy. "Wait, what the fuck is going on?"

"I'll show you."

* * *

**A/N: **Shame on you readers, I only got _one_ review last chapter. Haha

You have no idea how big of a hurdle getting this chapter out of the way was. It's almost straight cut to the finishing line now, I spent most of this story putting off writing this one chapter cause I had no idea how to go about not only bringing Chase into it again (I forgot the original plan) but how to write Tyler's funeral and the rape.

I know what all you readers hope for, however, and I just beg the deities that you haven't all given up hope. Everything is explained in the end, I promise. And just so you know Chase was the kid at the funeral as well, and he was trying to tell Pogue something. I hate creating OCs for stories like this, and the only ones so far have been their parents and the Doctor.

I'm re-estimating the chapter count to being around eleven or twelve chapters.

**~MK**


	9. IX: Chewing Up The Centre

**The Last Heart  
MyurraK**

_**From the Ugliest of Crimes comes the most Beautiful and Deadly of them all**_

**Chapter IX  
Chewing Up The Centre**

**Act I**

"Pogue, I've been thinking." Kate murmured, swiveling in her chair to face him, long dark hair rolling between her slender fingers as she combed out the tangles absently. Pogue looked up from tying his shoelaces, not quite sure if he should be worried about what she was going to ask him.

"Yeah, what is it?" he asked when she didn't continue. She bit her lip, hesitating in consideration before shaking her head.

"Never mind. It's silly. He reached over, warm hand resting on her knee to coax her. Both were silently relieved when she didn't feel compelled to tear her body away from him, though they never said it out loud.

"No, it's fine. What's wrong?" he asked after clearing his throat quietly.

"What's the possibility," she started, tongue lolling over her dry lips, "and this is just hypothetically speaking, that Tyler's still alive?"

Pogue's breath staggered and he pulled back, considering whether or not he should ignore her question. Her large dark eyes stared at him pleadingly and he figured it was only fair to give her an answer. "Well it's not impossible, but Kate, please, you have to drop it. We can't keep putting this on Reid, he's going through enough as it is without making it worse by bringing up Tyler."

She gave him a sad look. "I just can't believe that one of my baby's uncles is dead. I can't believe he's gone. It's too surreal, like my heart doesn't believe he's dead even if my mind does."

Pogue sat back on her bed, an uncomfortable look on his face and a weary acceptance in his eyes. "Well, what do you think is going on?" he asked, not really condoning the conversation but going along with it for Kate's sake.

"I think that maybe we have absolutely no effing clue what's going on. Everything is just so strange. Reid's wrist was broken and the doctor didn't even blink when it healed almost straight away. Don't you think that Tyler's body would have eventually healed, and that Tarren and Nathaniel would have known?"

Pogue fell silent before giving a loud, resigned sigh and falling back on her bed, staring up at the ceiling as he silently counted events off on his fingers. "I seen Tyler once after he was in the ambulance and that was days later in the hospital; he wasn't getting better, Kate. The doctor asked me what happened at one point, but…"

'_Mister Danvers wont say anything.'_

"What, what is it?" Kate asked, apprehension forming a solid block like concrete lodged in her throat. Pogue had suddenly fallen silent, staring at his fingers as though he wasn't sure if he should count the last one off or not, but the look in his eyes told her he knew something.

"Hey Kate, did you notice something odd at the funeral ceremony?" he asked, Kate waited for him to answer his own question. "The casket was closed, even before the services it was closed. The atmosphere in the church, it was claustrophobic, like when I get too close to Caleb."

The mention of Caleb didn't seem to be the best thing especially with his unfinished words, but Kate swallowed the look of jealousy and anger that crossed her face. "How so?" she asked, amazed at how steady her own voice was.

"Ripples." he murmured to himself, glancing up at her with wide eyes. "the power moves in ripples, they start small but grow as they span out. Caleb's problem with control is that the power rolls off him like water, he cant keep it inside his own body. It feels like waves are hitting you one after the other if you sit too close to him on a good day, I'm shocked no one else felt it."

"I thought I did, but I just thought it was a women's intuition thing. That's what Sarah said it was at least, I mean she…"

"Forget Sarah. Look, I'm not sure if you noticed it, but inside the church just felt wrong. Light moved off everything like facets on a crystal. The casket itself looked like it was moving under the light, like staring down a road when the tarmac's steaming hot."

They were silent for a while, Kate playing with the hem of her pants and Pogue skimming through all his recent memories as quickly and thoroughly as possible. Kate wanted desperately to say something, but she didn't know what. Glancing up, she wondered briefly what Reid was doing before running a hand over her stomach and slouching back against the chair.

"Kate." Pogue said suddenly.

'_From what we have been able to tell, Mister Simms wont make it through this one, so I'm putting the condition of Mister Garwin's mental state in your hands, boys. If you believe that he may need therapy or counselling, I would like for you to bring him back to me.'_

He grinned at her, making her heart flutter in her chest slightly. "I think it's time we take Reid to see the good doctor again."

* * *

**Act II**

"Reid, your father and I want to go on a trip." Lillian said from behind her son, rubbing his shoulders from behind. Reid let a quiet appreciative groan pass his lips at the gesture, but his hands fell limply around the mug of steaming mocha in his hands.

"You are?" he asked faintly, shifting on the couch uncomfortably. He was still sore, and every now and then his wounded fingertips would touch the edges of the mug and stick to it painfully. His skin was still raw from clawing at himself, and he kept adjusting his position in an attempt to ease the weight off the tender flesh of his rear.

His father knelt before him finally, taking out a roll of gauze and wrapping up his son's hand with it. Reid had felt the need to take his frustrations out on something, and had put holes through the plaster of a random wall with his fists, injuring his knuckles as well. He hissed through his teeth when the still bleeding wounds touched the cloth, but refused to complain.

His parents hadn't fussed over him like this since he was a child, and despite telling himself he was grown up and could do things himself, it felt nice to have that sort of attention. His parents had never been the coddling type, so when they did treat him like expensive porcelain he couldn't complain.

Tyler used to treat him like that, ignoring him when he called the younger boy a fag playfully or pouted moodily at him. He'd never appreciated small gestures before, but now he had every reason and every right to.

When his mother spoke again he was slightly startled. "We want you to come with us." she said, earning a nod from Mathew who didn't look up. "Here's the thing. If you don't want to come back, we wont. We'll leave for good. You'll never have to come back."

He tensed, his mother no doubt feeling it from where her hands rested on his shoulders. He turned his head so he half faced her and half his father, gaze flickering to and from them both. His mother looked too eager while his father seemed to be trying to listen to the conversation while pretending he wasn't involved. Reid thought to himself briefly that his father didn't really say much unless he was meeting new people, arguing or playing.

"Why?" he asked. His mother gave him a sad, wilted look that softened the corners of her eyes and turned the edges of her lips down.

"You need to heal, and with what's happened any attempt would be useless. There's nothing for any of us here, and the Simms will be coming with us."

"You're the last son they have." Mathew said suddenly, a bit too quickly, but his voice was low and trembling as though he were about to cry. Reid wanted to say something to his father, maybe something along the lines of always being his real father despite how he felt towards Nathaniel, or maybe something along the lines of an affirmation to their plan.

The best he could manage wasn't really a protest but a fear. "He'll find me, I know he will."

"We know this, son. But we'll be prepared when he does." Mathew said, seemingly composed again, sitting down on the coffee table. Reid stared at his bandaged hands in wonder; he hadn't even realised they were done.

"Where would we go?" he asked, holding his bandaged hands like roughly sewn mittens up to his face. Lillian threaded her fingers through her son's hair, kneading his scalp softly. It was the times when Reid needed her most that reminded her why she became a mother in the first place.

"There's a small island off the coast, we own a Manor there left over from my parents." she said, specifically not using the words 'your grandparents' because as far as Reid was concerned he didn't have any since he'd never met them on his mother's side, and his father's side were dead.

"Alright, but there's something I have to be back here for." he said, a faint grin falling over his lips. He wasn't going to miss the birth of Pogue and Kate's son. "Kate's going to need me."

"Evelyn told me she was pregnant." Lillian said slowly, staring at her son as though she wasn't sure if she should be happy or not. "So it's true? Gorman called saying that she was with child according to her claims."

"Yeah, it's true." Reid said, before freezing. "You said _Evelyn_ knows?" he said, watching his parents frown at one another and nod. "Do you think she'd tell…I mean, do you…does he…"

Understanding what Reid was trying to say, Lillian spoke up to save her son from speaking the name he was suddenly no longer capable of. "I don't know. He said he was going to visit her this morning, she might have said something." Mathew sighed then, rubbing his hands over his eyes.

"She doesn't believe the rest of us when we tell her. Her son's crazy."

* * *

**Act III**

"Alright, what the hell are we doing here." Aaron spat, glaring darkly at Chase beside him, who pointed to the water.

"Tell me, what do you see." giving Aaron a light shove toward the edge. Aaron glanced down, one brow rising and a sneer begging to curl his upper lip.

"Mud, rocks, broken glass… what the hell am I supposed to see?" he demanded, knowing he was being unbearable. Whatever this guy was he didn't care, he hoped Chase would just get irritated with him and tell him to get lost.

"You're not making this easy on either of us. Look at the surface, at the _water_." Chase said instead, holding a hand to his forehead. Aaron gave Chase a long look, almost thrilled at the idea of getting on the ends of someone's nerves like this. He could see why Reid did it. Then again, _this _guy was something else and there was a chance he was pushing his luck a bit too far.

Turning his eyes to the water, it took him a moment to realise what Chase was telling him to look at. "I see myself. The ripples make me look all screwy, my nose isn't _that_ big."

"I assure you, the ripples are complimenting you." Chase muttered, before sighing and continuing with his point. "Basically, it's distorted right?" he said finally, itching to do something painful to the other. The irritation was setting into Aaron as well, who felt it crawling and biting under his skin with the desire to get away. "That's how Caleb sees things, that's how he thinks."

"Caleb? What's that," he snapped, pointing to the chain around Chase's neck. "got to do with Caleb?" Chase gave Aaron a bored look that made him feel left out of something.

"You really know nothing about what's going on. But to explain we should go into the past." Aaron growled, bit back his protest and shoved his hands in his pockets. It was no use, he wasn't getting away any time soon. And if he was honest with himself, he'd accept that he was actually afraid of the other. "The last time you seen Tyler alive was Friday night at Nicky's, right?"

"Yer. Look can you just tell me how he died?" he asked, surprising himself. Did he really want to know what had happened to Tyler? It took him a moment to realise that he did, that he was so irritated because they weren't getting to the point.

"I wont tell you, but I promised to show you what's going on, didn't I."

"More or less."

Chase stared at Aaron blankly for a little longer, before shoving him to the ground and kneeling beside him, touching the surface of the water and not even sparing the spluttering Aaron any attention. "Watch." he said simply instead, grabbing Aaron by the back of the neck and directing his gaze to the surface of the water.

_It was dark, they were somewhere familiar. The back ally of Nicky's bar. Reid, whose arm was around Tyler's waist, pulled the youngest son to his side protectively. "Caleb, Pogue's right. You have to calm down."_

_"Shut up." Caleb snapped, fists clenching. His eyes didn't leave Reid and Tyler. The other raven shifted behind Reid, hiding his face and staring fixatedly at the blonde's shoulder._

_"Is it something I did?" Reid asked. Caleb growled in his throat, Tyler hearing the sound and turning his gaze toward his oldest friend. Caleb and Tyler's eyes met. Before Pogue could try to intervene, Caleb sent a shock wave at both of the youngest warlocks._

_They crashed to the ground; Pogue's hands grabbed at Caleb's arms, trying to stop him. Caleb ignored him, raising his hand in the direction of his youngest brothers. His eyes were black, swirling with blue flames but steadily darkening. Tyler suddenly lifted, his hand grappling for something to hang on to._

_Suspended in the air, Tyler stared at Caleb, confusion and fear in his eyes. "Caleb, let me go!" he cried weakly. Caleb grit his teeth, shooting his hand in the direction of the stairs. The power released Tyler, and he crashed heavily against the handrail, a sickening crack resonating through the alley._

_No one made a sound, save for a slight groan released from between Tyler's lips. Reid reached out, eyes wide and fear trembling within them. "Tyler?"_

_"Don't say his name!" Caleb shouted, the power picking Reid up and throwing him though a stack of wooden crates full of tin cans and glass bottles, the blonde crashing through them and slamming against the building. _

Aaron pulled back, eyes wide and face blanched as he tumbled to the side, stomach heaving dryly and bile stinging his throat, but he didn't throw up. He just couldn't, wouldn't, let Chase see the terror through his eyes. _They're all monsters. _

It didn't stop him from wiping his lip, drying his moist forehead with his sleeve and crawling back over to sit beside Chase. The young man beside him gave him a strange, almost emotionless look that seemed to have the feeling of confusion and something else. Something like gratitude. But it was still almost completely emotionless nonetheless.

"Show me the rest." Chase rolled his eyes.

"I haven't shown you anything, you're showing yourself. Whatever questions you have about them, the answer is what you'll see. What was it you just seen then?"

If Aaron had any doubts about what was going on, they were fading away almost too fast for his liking. His eyes settled on the silver chain around Chase's neck and he grit his teeth hard. He had a reason for asking questions, he just didn't know that reason yet.

"Caleb attacked them." he said simply, and Chase nodded despite the vague explanation. Without another word, Aaron leant back over the riverbank, staring into the water. It appeared murky black, like he couldn't get his questions in a line.

_What have they seen,_ he thought to himself, watching as colours flickered over the surface like oil, before organising into shimmering images.

_Pogue's eyes swirling black and slamming Caleb against the brick wall, yelling at him. Pogue stepping away and checking Tyler's pulse, the obviously very weak pulse which took too long to detect. _

_Tyler on life support, body not even moving as the machine forced him to take mechanical breaths. _

_Reid passing out on the steps the first day back in school, wincing in pain before he collapsed as though something was lodged in his ribcage. _

_Caleb standing behind Reid before he noticed Tyler's ring on his finger. Caleb then had Reid pressed against the wall. Reid ducked, striking Caleb either side of the neck with his elbows. Caleb pulled him back up before he could get away, kissing him roughly._

_Caleb straddling Reid's legs, holding his arms above his head. Caleb's hand lingered dangerously low, and Reid looked frightened. _

_Reid and Tyler running through the forest during the rain, ducking below branches and following one another, easing themselves down rocks and stepping carefully over puddles and buttress roots. _

_Caleb and Pogue forcing their way into a window, their eyes pitch black and Pogue looking around warily. From the brief glimpse inside it was obviously Tyler's room._

_Caleb pulling Pogue from where he'd been working under a car and slamming their lips together. _

_Caleb crashing his body into Reid's, straddling him again. Reid went to grab for Caleb's throat but the older male grabbed his wrists and pinned them. Caleb got up without any prompting, leaving Reid laying there._

_Reid waking up to a creature that resembled Tyler, that looked like it had come from a nightmare. The creature vanished and Reid collapsed at the window. Eventually the blonde pulled himself out, running across the fire-escape only to have it collapse under his weight. _

_Reid and Kate sitting together in an underground chamber. Candles were lit all around them, a small stone table alight with a ring of fire. They were reading from an old book, and Kate looked murderous. _

_Reid standing on the side of a road before running across it right when a car came speeding toward him, purposely getting hit._

_Reid collapsing to his knees, Caleb with his arms around him from behind, in a soothing manner. Reid thrashed and clawed at himself, and when he finally calmed Caleb's hand slunk between his body and undid the fly of his jeans. Reid tried to push back against him and struggle away, but Caleb held him down with a single hand pressed to his back._

Aaron reeled back before he could see any more, sprawled half on his front and half on his side over the grass, little green leaves tickling his lower lip and dirt moving with each harsh breath he took. He didn't move, uncaring that Chase's eyes were boring into his back. His stomach was tying itself into knots, and he was just about ready to go to the bushes and empty his stomach.

He felt like he'd been on a roller coaster backwards.

Aaron lay there, contemplating the memories. He surprised not only Chase but himself when he dragged himself back to the water's edge. He had one last question, one more answer he needed, and he'd leave and possibly never have to look back.

_What am I supposed to do,_ was the only sentence echoing in his mind as, once again, he was drawn into the world he wasn't supposed to be a part of.

* * *

**Act IV**

Reid's hands grappled for clothing, shoving one after another in a tatty old green duffle bag he'd found in the back of his closet. His father stood by the window, watching cautiously as Caleb returned in the car. Lillian, downstairs, called up to him.

"Reid, are you ready yet?" she called, her voice frantic as something toppled over. From the sound it made, Reid could tell it was the reading table he'd placed beside the lounge; he'd knocked it over himself quite a few times. He could even imagine the phone disconnecting from the holder and the lamp rolling on it's side and laying still against the carpet.

His father let out a heavy sigh of relief, closing the drapes in front of the window. "Thank Christ, he's gone inside." the man murmured. Reid didn't feel any more relaxed; just continued scouring his room for anything that he'd take with him.

Downstairs, Lillian muttered to herself about pieces of furniture with spindly legs that didn't stand straight. Putting the table right again, she wondered absently why she was even bothering, clacking the phone holder and the phone back on the top. As she crawled further to reach the lamp, the phone ringing startled her.

She stared at the phone for a long while, deciding not to answer it. It eventually rung out and she let out a breath she'd been holding, unknowingly at the same time as Reid and Mathew upstairs.

Reid stuffed photos of Tyler, Pogue, Kate and Sarah in his bag. "C'mon." he murmured to his father, heading straight for the door. Everything else in his room he could replace, or send Kate to get them and mail them to him.

Right now he just wanted to get out of there. He raced down the stairs, two at a time, running his possessions over in his head just to make sure he had them all. His mother was fiddling with the lampshade, trying to get it to sit right again, but it kept tilting to the side. His mother had always been obsessive compulsive about broken objects.

He shook his head, redirecting his steps to the kitchen. He stared at the second phone in mute irritation as it rung again. Perhaps it was Kate or Pogue checking up on him. He slung the duffle bag onto the table-top, turning and reaching out for the phone. His hand held tightly onto it for a minute, reconsidering picking it up. When it was only a few seconds before it rung out, he snapped it from the hook and to his ear.

"Hello?" he almost whispered, his voice breaking as though his throat was stuck together with webs of glue. There was a sudden, angry intake of breath and a low hum before the dial tone. He shrugged and slammed the phone back in the holder. He unpinned the photos from his cork-board, sliding them into the bag.

The one that he'd thought looked strange before, the one of the four of them, sat in his hands. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something seemed off about the picture. He held it tightly between his hands, glaring at it like a puzzle you couldn't figure out.

Mathew was standing by the window in the lounge room, watching in amusement as his wife tried in vain to fix the lampshade, when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Caleb, on the other end of the row of houses, emerged from the front door, a grey and black cordless phone in hand.

He must have noticed after all.

"Reid! We have to go!" Mathew shouted, grabbing his startled wife and diving for the door, praying Caleb wouldn't break into a run or use on them.

In the kitchen, Reid jumped from the sound of his father's raised voice and ripped the photo a bit. Instantly he seen what was wrong, and gave a small satisfied smile as he ripped Caleb completely out of the photo. He laid the two pieces on the counter before grabbing his duffle bag and running.

Reid had never liked how short the road was to get from one side of the row of houses to the other. He'd always wanted it to be longer, because if you were taking your time it only took about thirty seconds to get from Reid's house to Caleb's, which were on opposite sides of the lane because of the friction between them.

Right now, Reid was glad it took at least that long, because just a few seconds later and he wouldn't have made it. His parents were already in the driver and passenger seat of the car, his father already reversing back as Reid dove for the side door of the car, tossing his bag through the window.

Caleb stood a few feet away, scowling and glaring after them. As Reid ripped the door of the moving car open and slid into the seat, the door swinging shut by itself, the last look he got of Caleb before they made it down the road was a brief meeting of their eyes.

Despite the distance between them, at least nine or ten metres now, Reid could still see every detail of Caleb's expression. His brow was furrowed, the shadows on his face dark in comparison to his milky pale skin. Caleb's dark eyes were on the verge of flashing black with power, his lower lip pulled tight and his nose crinkled slightly as he inhaled the cold air sharply through his nose.

Snowflakes stuck to the windscreen and the windows as they exited the driveway, pebbles kicking up and spitting back against the sides of the expensive car as they disappeared down the road. Reid sat completely still, wondering why Caleb hadn't come after him. There had only been a few feet between them when Reid ran past, but Caleb had just stood there watching him go. Watching him run away.

_Patience is a virtue,_ Reid thought bitterly, folding his arms to hide his shaking hands from his mother's adoring gaze. _He knows he'll find me. He'll wait, and then he will come for me._

They made a stop nearly an hour along the road, Reid sitting back against the edge of the car with one of his mother's cigarettes sitting between his lips, the smoke stinging his lungs but making him feel better. He'd stopped shaking at least. His parents were a dozen metres away walking with their arm's hooked around one another's waists.

He smiled slightly, but he couldn't help the sad downturn of his eyes as he watched his parents together. They'd always loved one another; it was their reckless love that resulted in his parents being cut off from the other three families.

Mathew's own father had wanted him to marry his best friend Molly, Pogue's mother. Molly wanted to marry Pogue's father, Giles, and Mathew wanted to marry Lillian. Mathew never got along with Giles and because of the amount of time he spent with Molly, James and Nathaniel fell in dutifully alongside Giles.

Mathew had used his power a little more spontaneously than his 'brothers' out of a desire for their attention, even if that attention was having his three brother's avoid him or physically fight against him each time he tried, despite Lillian telling them all that they were stupid.

He'd survived like that until Molly's parents had decided they agreed and wanted Mathew to marry their daughter, which was when he'd done the thing any hedonistic and in-love teenager would do. He packed up his things, stole his parent's car and 'kidnapped' Lillian, the two eloping to London where it was impossible to find them among all the other people.

Years later they returned with a child, their memory leaving a stale taste in the mouths of his 'brothers' whom avoided him, whom ignored Lillian and Molly's frequent visits to one another, and whom never introduced the newest generation until it couldn't be avoided.

Reid sighed to himself, wondering why he hadn't just taken a leaf out of his father's book and packed himself and Tyler up and left. Somewhere warm where they could actually show the skin of their arms without getting a chill. Somewhere they could be together and not have to worry about anyone else.

He could have made it a Garwin tradition; running away with their future spouse and coming back when they were safe and forgotten.

He turned away from his parents, staring at the finished end of the cancer-stick before flicking it to the ground and walking down the road in the opposite direction. He needed to move, his legs were getting restless and he had a funny feeling in his stomach.

His mobile phone, which he hadn't even noticed had been in his pocket, buzzed with an incoming call. He considered leaving it in case it was Caleb, before deciding to check the caller ID. It was Kate.

He gave a slight smile, flipping the phone open and pressing the talk button. "Hey Kate." he said in acknowledgment.

_"__Reid, where the hell are you!" _

"Um, about a mile or two off Southbound road I think." he said, eyes flicking over to his parents. He felt a cough tickle his throat, repercussions from smoking. He cleared his throat and swallowed. "Why, what's wrong?"

_"__We've been calling almost everyone when you didn't answer the phone. I felt like such an idiot when Pogue told me to try your mobile." _

Reid chuckled, running a hand nervously over the bruise on his neck from where Caleb bit him the night before. "Why, what's wrong?" he asked, shuddering down the memories that threatened to vividly replay in his mind.

_"__Pogue found something, we think you should know for yourself." _Reid's brow furrowed, taking her words in.

"What's this about?" he asked, his frown deepening when Kate remained quiet for a moment.

_"_…_Tyler."_

Reid contemplated hanging up there and then. He took a shaky breath, evening out his voice as much as he could manage and speaking clearly into the mouthpiece. "Tyler's dead, Kate. We went to his funeral yesterday, remember? I touched his face; his skin was definitely cold." he snapped, wincing at the sharp-edge of his comment.

_"__Yeah, but, I just thought that…"_

"I can't afford it. Look, I'm leaving Kate. Mine and Ty's parents are taking me some place safe. Where I can recover. I suggest you tread carefully as well, Evelyn knows you're pregnant." Kate was silent, and without seeing or hearing it he knew she'd nodded. She tended to nod when she was on the phone, regardless of whether or not anyone could see it. She understood what he had implied.

_"__Alright…I understand. Reid, just promise me that you'll consider coming back. Pogue really thinks that he's found something. Plus, you're gonna be an uncle, remember?" _she teased, but he could hear the tears in her voice. They tore him to shreds.

Over the months he'd really come to love Kate.

"Take care of yourself, promise?" he asked, cursing at how tight his throat sounded. He rubbed his stinging eyes, taking a deep shivering breath.

_"__Yeah. You too, Garwin. Don't make me hunt you down just to kick your skinny blonde ass all the way back to Ipswich because you've done something stupid." _

"Well, considering your threat to Gormin about six-inch stilettos I don't think I'll be looking foreword to that." he laughed with her, sniffling irritably when he noticed a tear had managed to escape down his cheek. He steadied himself, irritated when he realised his entire chest felt tight and constricted. "I promise I'll visit."

_"__You do that." _was all she managed to say before hanging up her end of the line, Reid listening to the dial tone for a few seconds before he too ended the call. He made his way back to the car, sitting on the end of it and glaring with blurred watery vision directly at a small melting patch of snow on the side of the road.

His parents had been standing beside him, watching him, for who knows how long before he realised. His eyes were red-rimmed and pale tormented blue when he turned to look at them. His father's lips parted to say something, but his mother held her hand out, smiling softly at her son.

"Only you know what's best, Reid." she said softly.

"I have to go back." he said, and as he expected his parents' faces fell then tightened to stone. His father nodded stiffly, not meeting his eyes as he muttered a small 'Very well' and turned toward the front of the car. His mother glanced at him softly, her eyes filled with the look a child gets when they realised they failed to do something important.

For Reid, it felt as though he was picking one casualty over another. There would be pain, disappointment and tears either way. His stupid, stubborn, ignorant, broken heart made the choice for him.

* * *

**Act V**

"Doctor Gestion will see you now." a nurse with a fake candy-coloured smile and brown eyes that sat in the very middle of her face looking very much like caramel toffees said, her long overgrown nails were painted a matte red, bitten and chipped at the ends. Her nose and forehead were too big and her chin was too small, and Kate couldn't help but spitefully think that she should have been a plastic surgeon instead.

She realised how horrid her thoughts were, and wouldn't meet the nice nurse's eyes when she walked past, guiltily staring at her feet. Pogue didn't even give the nurse a second glance, which meant he either didn't care she existed or he was feeling awkward because his thoughts had been on a very similar path as her own.

Of course, for Pogue it was probably the former. For her, it was just mood swings from pregnancy and all the stress as of late.

They'd come to the hospital inquiring about a check-up for her pregnancy, and after giving their names, just as Pogue had expected, it was Doctor Gestion they ended up with. Kate felt vaguely bad; they'd been sitting in the waiting room a total of eleven minutes. There were other people that had been sitting and waiting for what looked to be hours; one young boy with a bleeding hole in his wrist had been standing there since before they'd arrived and gave them a pained look when she stood.

She'd talked to the mother, who said he'd been playing some sport and his wrist had caught on a hook on the goal-post they were using. He'd been there four hours so far, and he only needed a couple of stitches.

The cotton-candy-lipped toffee-eyed tomato-nailed nurse lead the way, her extremely white teeth showing the entire time in an everlasting grin. She wondered if the woman had actually injected something into her face to numb it so that she could pull that face for the whole day. It looked painful, like she'd shoved her face in a tin of superglue had had it cast over her face to hold it there.

The more she stared, the more the wide welcoming smile appeared to be a severe grimace of terror.

She grabbed Pogue's hand with her own, surprised when the plastic-surgery-dropout took them to what looked to be an office, inside a man with weary lines on his face and greying dark brown hair sat behind, staring absentmindedly at a blank spot on the wall.

The nurse stammered something and turned around, walking away. They slid inside, Kate glancing around the walls of the retro red, black and coffee-coloured office. On the walls was a photo of a familiar woman, but Kate didn't get a chance to look closer as the man welcomed them.

"Hello Mister Parry, Miss Tunney. Take a seat." he said. Pogue pulled out a chair for Kate, waiting until she sat down before landing in the chair beside her, angling his knees toward her instinctively. The small gesture made Kate feel warm inside and she touched their knees together. "I heard there was some good news for the both of you?" he said, smiling widely.

"Yes sir. I'm pregnant, and we're keeping the child." she said. The doctor smiled, his eyes crinkling in the corners, bright and warm. Kate felt herself relax.

"That's wonderful, my dear. Has there been any significant changes? Anything strange worth noting?"

"The baby knew when I cheated on her." Pogue said, hands folded in his lap and his eyes staring directly at the doctor. The man's smile faded, and Pogue leaned foreword. "I think it's time we 'got in touch', doc."

Kate gave Pogue a confused, sidelong look, deciding to let him take the attention away from her for a while and get what done what they came here for. He stared intently at the doctor, who held his gaze equally before sighing and giving in.

"I thought that the Garwin boy would be here in your place when this happened, but I guess it was inevitable." Pogue smirked.

"You kind of gave it away with how you treated Caleb like he carried the plague." the doctor's mouth twitched in a mockery of a smile.

"You shouldn't have lied about what happened, Mister Parry." Pogue scoffed.

"We're practically family. Get used to calling me 'Pogue'. I expect to see you at our functions more often, old man. Not just the ones when someone dies." Kate, thoroughly confused, turned her eyes to the photo. After looking long enough, she gasped when she seen who it was.

"Why do you have a photograph of Tarren Simms?" she asked, frowning at the man. He swallowed, before lowering her eyes. It took her a moment, before she suddenly seen something she hadn't noticed before. He had Tarren's eyes, _Tyler's eyes_.

"Tarren is my kid sister. I was sixteen when she was born, our parents had divorced when I was seven and got back together when I was fourteen." Kate frowned, before grinning slightly.

"Tarren's maiden name is Gestion? Oh I'm never going to let her live that down." the doctor cleared his throat and Kate fell silent with embarrassment, averting her eyes to the floor. Pogue grinned at Kate affectionately, kicking himself in the ankle to get his attention back on track.

"So this explains why all Covenant injuries are treated by you. You're already on the inside." the doctor nodded and Pogue's voice lowered seriously. "You must know why we're here."

"You want to know what happened to Tyler." the doctor said blankly. Pogue nodded, and the doctor sighed, looking down and rubbing his temples. "He's dead. You've been to the funeral yourself."

"Bullshit." Pogue spat, startling Kate who jumped beside him. The doctor gave him a grey, tight-lipped stare, eyes narrow and challenging once again. Kate, after realising neither was going to give in, sighed loudly and slammed her hands on the desk.

"Look, don't you dare think you're gonna get out of this. We want to know what's going on right now, damnit!" she shouted, wincing at the pitch of her own voice. The doctor stared at her with wide slightly frightened eyes, and Kate couldn't help but wonder if he got this from his sister when she was younger.

Only boys with younger sisters would get that look in their eyes when a female screeched at them like she just had.

"Look, I can't tell you anything, least of all what you want to know. But whatever it is you have in your heads, get it out before it hurts someone." the doctor said, waving a hand in their direction and turning away. "If the lady doesn't want a check-up," he started, speaking pointedly to Pogue "then I suggest you both go home. A storm's coming tonight, and I have more patients."

Pogue's eye twitch, and Kate felt herself feel suddenly drowsy. The dismissal when she was right in his face was insulting, but the lack of information was another blow entirely. Pogue had been wrong. He'd gotten her hopes up for nothing if this doctor wouldn't tell them anything to help ease the pain again.

She didn't blame him, though. She still had a little hope left, even if it was only a very, _very_ small amount. _Who am I kidding?_ the thought to herself as she shrugged the doctor's gentle hand from her arm. _Magic doesn't make fairytales real, it just makes happily ever after sound overrated. _

She skulked out into the hall, disappearing from Pogue's sight. He turned to the doctor then, eyes narrowed and mouth pressed into a thin line. "Reid better not get hurt because of your games, old man."

With that said, he shrugged his jacket squarely on his shoulder, managing to give one last withering look to the doctor before turning to catch up to Kate.

* * *

**Act VI**

Reid crawled through one of the lower windows to Pogue's house, keeping an eye out for Caleb, who he knew was hardly a few metres away. His parents had begged and pleaded that he come and stay with them and the Simms, but he'd said he had something to do first.

It had been the kitchen window he'd had to break, unfortunately. Laying his jacket over the window and striking it with his elbow to muffle the sound slightly, he winced when the glass tinkered to the floor. He'd pushed as much glass out of the frame as possible, shaking any extra chips from his jacket and sliding it back on before hoisting himself up.

He'd scraped his elbow and his knee on small pieces of leftover glass as he passed through the frame, and his hand had slipped the hot-water tap on, so when both hands slid into the sink he burnt them on the scorching running water. After that he'd managed to get on his feet without any more injuries. He was glad he'd been investing in shock-absorption pads in his shoes so he didn't jar his feet in landing otherwise he'd have toppled over and hit the table, making enough noise to attract Caleb's attention for sure.

It wasn't as if he couldn't have just used, but with Caleb so close there was no telling if he'd sense it.

It was easy to find his way around Pogue's house; aside from being in there before his house was exactly the same as were Tyler's and Caleb's. He picked up the phone in the kitchen, dialling the number to Kate and Sarah's dorm room. It went to the message and Reid simply said that he was waiting at Pogue's house.

Several minutes later, the phone rung. He answered it almost straight away, "Hello?" he breathed, relief washing through him when he heard Pogue's voice.

_"__Dude, it feels so weird to be calling my own phone and have someone else answer it." _was the reply Reid heard, making him laugh.

"Yeah, I came back."

_"__We went to Tyler's uncle, who just happens to be your doctor. He wouldn't say anything; I think he's waiting for a one-on-one with you." _Pogue said, sounding every bit like the kind of hope he needed.

"What's your take on this?"

_"__Something's not right. It can't be what it seems." _he said, voice sounding slightly frustrated. _"I was sure I had everything put together, but nothing's working out. And Caleb…"_

"My parents are scared of him." Reid said suddenly, surprising himself. "My father's scared of him."

_"__I know what you mean. That guy has both his own and his father's power. He's stronger than us by a long shot, you especially seeing as you haven't ascended yet. The only hope we have of being safe again is…"_ he trailed off, not wanting to voice what they were both thinking. Reid, however, decided to do it for him.

"He has to die."

_"__And someone has to will their power."_ Reid frowned.

"Then two people will die. In the end, I think everyone dies." he sighed, leaning back against the bench. "This is hopeless. There's no way I'd be able to face him, not after, well…"

_"__Reid?"_ Pogue asked, sounding almost too concerned. _"What's wrong? What happened?"_

"Pogue, he did something." Reid said, biting back his emotions and rubbing his closed eyes with a hand. Pogue deserved to know. When Pogue spoke again, he sounded even more panicked.

_"__Reid? I can't hear you? What's happened?"_

"What do you mean? I'm talking right now."

_"__Reid! Oh Christ, hang on Reid! I'll be right there!"_ Reid's brow furrowed, and suddenly a cold chill ran up his spine like a cold draught. He lowered the phone away from his ear, not turning, as the phone was slipped from his grasp.

"Well," Caleb said, sliding his finger off the receiver and dropping the phone back in it's cradle. "I think," he started, lips brushing Reid's temple. "that you went a little too far with that one."

_Pogue hurry the hell up, _Reid thought, and shuddered, his heart lurching in his chest, when Caleb's hands came to rest on either side of his waist, fingers just brushing the waistband of his sweatpants hanging low on his hips. _Oh no. Oh hell no._

He lunged out of Caleb's grip, surprising even himself but especially the older male who hadn't even expected it. He grabbed a large shard of glass off the sink, cringing and almost dropping it when the jagged edges dug into his skin, fingers beading with blood.

Caleb took a step foreword, mouth open to say something, but Reid gripped the glass tighter, holding it up to his neck. Caleb froze, but he didn't look frightened. His eyes were daring Reid to do it, like he didn't believe he'd pushed Reid far enough.

"I may not be able to kill you with the power, but you can't survive a slit throat." he hissed, the shard digging into Caleb's skin but not enough to cut. Caleb smirked, making Reid grip the glass tighter and press it harder into his skin. He felt Caleb swallow, and he saw a slight uncertainty in his eyes now.

"You wouldn't do it." he whispered assuredly. Reid sneered.

"I'm betting your life that I would." Caleb's hand shot up, knocking Reid's hand with the glass shard away from him as he leant back. Without knowing how, Reid found himself pressed back tightly to Caleb's chest, a hand under his throat and another holding his wrists pinned together behind him. Caleb's fingers dug painfully into the pressure points either side of his neck, his breath just barely wheezing through his constricted windpipe.

"I'm betting Pogue's that you wouldn't." Reid writhed back, trying to knock Caleb off balance and away from him. When he only succeeded having Caleb's fingers tighten around his throat he stopped abruptly.

"Le- me geh-" was all he could manage, before realising that Caleb's thumb was over the top of his wrists. He could get out of this. He was just about to duck foreword and rip his hands up out of Caleb's grip when the front door slammed open.

"Reid!" Pogue called out, and the blonde tensed against Caleb, plans of escape forgotten. Caleb's mouth was against his ear, hot breath running over his cheekbone.

"Only two will make it out of this house. Lets see which one of us wins."

* * *

**A/N: **Wow, I got the most reviews for last chapter, it seems you all like reading the angsty stuff. This chapter didn't exactly explain much but I hope that the plot is a little bit more visible. There's some violence in the next chapter. Most of it will be attacking and self defence, seeing as my weekly self-defence classes are fresh in my mind.

Now the question: who'll die - Pogue or Caleb? And what's Reid going to do, stuck in the middle? What was it Aaron's going to do next? And what's Kate going to do while she's sitting inside Pogue's car, blissfully unaware and shaking with anxiety? Not to mention Sarah's feeling a bit left out and comes to help.

I went to Youth-group last night, first time I've been social with anyone but my best friend in a while. I went with a bunch of people I haven't really spent much time with, mostly old primary school friends and some people I don't get a chance to spend time with. It has to have been the best thing I've done in ages. The disco was so great; the band are awesome and I got to hear one of my friends sing. Then there was a game, some funny clips, an interview with one of the participants and then a girl got up and spoke for quite a while. First time I've actually listened intently when someone was speaking through a microphone and not fallen asleep.

The atmosphere at Youth is so strange, and it feels so safe. We're all young people but there's no danger there; no gang wars, perverted guys, adults hustling you out of the way, creepy people who stand there and watch you, racial fights; not at all like late-night-shopping with friends. Everyone's so nice and you just feel like you can relax and no one will care if you shout out and dance wildly.

If there's a Youth Group near you, regardless of whether or not you're religious, I suggest you go.

Next time comes a lot sooner than you'd think,  
**Love MK**


	10. X: Hawks On The Fence

**The Last Heart  
MyurraK**

_**From the Ugliest of Crimes comes the most Beautiful and Deadly of them all**_

**Chapter X  
Hawks On The Fence  
**

**Act I**

Reid pressed his lips into a thin line, hoping that Pogue wouldn't walk into the trap and would get out of the house right away. He hoped that maybe, by stopping his breathing, that Pogue wouldn't notice him there. That by simply praying, a god might decide to listen to him.

He never thought what would happen if Caleb had a different idea.

"Pogue, in here." he called, and Reid nearly felt tears sting his eyes. Nearly.

As the middle son appeared in the archway to the kitchen, Reid felt the last of his hope shatter into thousands of mendless pieces. Pogue stood frozen, brown eyes wide and lips parted in a silent, agonizing sentence that just wouldn't fall on his tongue.

Finally they settled, thick like sediment. "Caleb, Let him go!" Reid moved his wrists, blood from his fingers making Caleb's grip on them slip just slightly.

"So, Pogue. I hear you're gonna be a father." Caleb said, tightening his grip around Reid's throat. A silent threat to the blonde that even if he had his wrists free, Caleb still had an upper hand. "I have an idea. I'll give you a choice."

Reid tried to ignore what Caleb was saying, ignore what he was doing, but he just knew his next words meant life or death. He desperately wished Pogue would just leave, run away and keep Kate safe. But Caleb was having none of that, too caught up in his own mind games.

"Either give me Reid, or give me Kate." Caleb said, smirking. Pogue clenched his fists, and Reid could see something in his older brother's eyes, something that gave him away before he even tried. Reid knew that Pogue would chose Kate over him, just as he'd choose Tyler over everyone else, but this look wasn't an apologetic or guilty one, it was challenging. Challenging Caleb was like prodding a hungry python and hoping you wouldn't get bitten. It was dangerous, hopeless. Stupid.

"I'd get to Kate before you could. You have no idea where she is." Pogue growled, and Reid noticed the other warlock's hand slip out of sight behind him. Reid couldn't help the strangled sound he made when Caleb's fingers dug into his nerves, his fingers curling into painful fists behind him. He wanted to cry out to Pogue that it was no use, that he was playing Caleb's game without knowing the rules. He could just imagine Caleb's malicous grin.

"No?" Caleb said, and Reid could hear the smirk in his voice. He watched Pogue's eyes narrow, Caleb tilting his neck back, dry lips resting on the younger male's cheek. Caleb was baiting Pogue, trying to get him to say it out loud, that he chose Kate. "Actually, I know exactly where she is." Pogue's frown didn't fade, and Reid figured Pogue was calling it a bluff. Reid knew better, and tried to tell the other as much, but Caleb's tongue brushing his skin made the words freeze in his already constricted throat.

_No, no, nonono!_ he chanted in his mind, eyes closing tight, sweat sliding from his brow over his washed out skin, a sob sticking to the insides of his throat. _It's not real. None of this is real. _

"Why, I think I should invite her in right now. Why don't we go get her, what do you say Reid?" Reid risked opening his eyes, Pogue's swelling with horror and incredulous disbelief. Pogue understood, without words, the way he always had.

"You…" he started, his voice low and quiet, fist trembling at his side as he visibly restrained his temper. "…you sick, psychotic, demented monster!" his other hand slid from behind him, a serrated knife like the type you used for scaling and gutting freshwater trout gripped in his palm, unrelenting fingers twisted around it, knuckles and nails white. "Don't touch him!"

To Reid's surprise, Caleb laughed, the vibrations shuddering along his spine and making him cringe. It was now or never, he wasn't going to lose this game. He wrenched his slippery hands from Caleb's, slamming his body backwards and forcing him into the counter. Caleb's hand automatically left Reid's throat, but the laughing didn't stop.

Reid ran foreword, Pogue grabbing his elbow, pads of his fingers digging harshly through his clothes. It wasn't that easy, Reid should have known it wasn't that easy. A blast of energy radiating heat slammed into their sides, knocking them straight into the next room and pinning them to the far wall. Reid felt the energy holding him up give away, allowing him to slide to his knees on the floor.

Pogue was still pinned, gasping and twisting his head either way, skin flushing red and black lines following his veins, spreading across his flesh like a disease. "Stop it! Caleb stop!" he cried out for Pogue, who was gasping from the scorching pain of the burning power holding him there.

The power released Pogue, who collapsed in a heap beside Reid, smelling like singed flesh and burnt clothing, a faint smoky steam rolling up into the air. Pogue struggled to move his torso off the ground and hold his weight up on his elbows, coughing harshly, eyes dark as the swollen burns on his skin started to fade.

Thunder crashed somewhere close, the sound deafeningly loud. Before the thunder had even finished lightening flickered across the sky and struck somewhere in the hills. Moments later the house groaned, a thick lashing of rain pelting against the side of the building. Lights flickered, and they were plunged into a premature night. Reid subconsciously held his breath when he lost sight of Pogue and Caleb, Pogue no longer at his side.

He bit his lower lip, a shuddering breath passing through his teeth as he pulled himself away from the wall, forcing himself to move quicker. The carpet muffled the sounds of his scuffing feet, hand finally settling on the armrest of a couch.

Falling to the floor, pressing his back to the side of the couch and his knees to his chest, he glanced around, breath finally escaping in quick gasps. His heart was hammering; where was Pogue? How did he just disappear like that?

Another flash of lightening briefly illuminated the room, and Reid, as disoriented as he was, could tell he was alone. _Get up. Get up now. Get up, get up, get up!_ he shouted in his head, finding the compulsion and staggering to his feet. It was strangely dark, somewhere between late evening and early night despite it only being the afternoon.

Reaching out, he could barely see his own hand in the dark, but when lightening struck and illuminated the entire room he could see every detail, even the trembling and gooseflesh of his arm. He was frightened. Frightened for himself, for Pogue, and strangely even frightened for Caleb.

He was almost as frightened _for _Caleb as he was _of _him.

He reached the wall in a single stride once it was close enough, cheek and hands pressed against it, calmed by it's cool temperature. He felt Pogue race up the stairs before he heard him. The loud thudding treading against the stairs would have been enough to wake them all from a dead sleep weeks ago, when Tyler had been alive and Caleb had been slightly if not better at pretending he was sane.

The wall shuddered with the force, Pogue's knife on the floor rattling metallically beside him, and Reid was torn between staying downstairs where it was safe or following the fight onto the second story where it obviously was.

His question was answered for him when he heard a shout, and suddenly a large hole in the ceiling of the living room caved in, with it was Pogue's groaning body. Reid was about to run over to his brother, but Caleb jumped down from the hole, landing with foot either side of Pogue's twisting form. Caleb leaned down, apparently unaware Reid was there for the moment, grabbing Pogue by the hair and dragging him up so their gaze was level.

"I'm going to kill her slowly. I'm going to cut your son from her stomach and burn him to death, but I'll take my time with your pretty woman first." Pogue growled in an almost animalistic way, spitting at Caleb spitefully.

"He's going to kill you." Pogue whispered quietly, and before Reid realised he'd done so he found himself picking up the knife he'd almost forgotten was on the floor beside him, serrated edge digging under Caleb's chin and nicking deep enough to make the flesh sting and bleed.

"Up." Reid hissed, adrenaline staggering through his veins and anticipation welling in his stomach. He felt sick.

"You're going to have to kill me." Caleb said, Reid digging the blade into his harder but not slicing. Caleb turned to him, a further strike of lightning flashing white light across his expressionless features. "Or are you too weak?"

He seemed to forget about Pogue then, because his features morphed angrily, the expression of a monster. He let go of Pogue, the other man falling unprepared to the debris covered floor. Reid dropped the knife, startled, and Caleb swiped it before Reid could lurch for it again, spinning it by the handle in the palm of his hand so the blade was pressed to his forearm.

Reid trembled and staggered backwards, Caleb kicking Pogue in the ribs as he stepped over him and came after Reid. "You were always weak! You were never the leader you wanted to be! I'm the strong one, I'm the leader! I'm the one who decides who dies and who lives!"

Reid froze, stepping backwards up the stairs, eyes on Caleb. "Is that why you killed Tyler? Why you're trying to kill Pogue? Because they were a challenge?"

"I killed Tyler because he was in my way! Tyler was worthless, and he didn't deserve you!" Caleb reached out, arm swinging and trying to slice Reid's chest. Reid fell back against the stairs, watching as Caleb accidentally drove the knife into the plaster wall.

He kicked out, foot connecting with the inside of Caleb's elbow, causing the older male to clasp the elbow to his chest and leave the blade in the wall, turning away from Reid. The blonde's other foot kicked out, striking the back of Caleb's knee, collapsing the other man. Caleb fell, striking his head on the edge of a stair, body slumped.

He watched, breathing heavily, as Caleb groaned and tried to move his head, failing. Reid turned on the stairs, hands steadying him as he attempted to run up them, only to have Caleb's hand grab his ankle, dragging him back down. Caleb was healing too fast for him to keep up with, fighting back too quickly for him to defend himself.

His fingers and nails dug into the stairs, trying to drag himself back up them, but fighting against Caleb's strength and his power were two different things, neither he was a match for. Caleb was standing, dragging Reid back. The blonde knocked his chin on a lower stair, blinking away fuzzy stars from his vision as he tried to stand.

Caleb's hand released his ankle, surprising Reid who staggered and steadied himself on the banister with his hands, eyes turning to see Pogue with an arm under Caleb's chin, another holding the knife to his throat again. Reid was almost sure Pogue was going to kill Caleb then.

Caleb turned his body, slamming Pogue back with a wall of energy. The blade sliced his throat thinly, but the wound was small enough that it would heal in a matter of minutes.

"Pogue!" Reid shouted, watching as his older brother's body fell heavily to the ground, sliding a further few feet, the force from the energy wall shattering the windows at the front of the house.

* * *

**Act II**

When Pogue had found out something had happened to Reid, they were back at his house in a matter of minutes. Kate wasn't sure if they were resolving anything in there, or even what had actually happened, but Pogue had been inside longer than ten minutes at least, and she was sure she'd heard things breaking, but had passed it off as thunder.

Now, with all the glass windows to the front of Pogue's house shattering simultaneously, she was definitely aware that something else was going on. The logical part of her wanted to stay in the car; that was the smart thing to do. If they were fighting what could she do? She'd get in the way and they'd be worried, or not worried, about hitting her, though she couldn't tell which was worse.

Then there was the part of her, the part inside her that was both her and Pogue. The child growing inside her was telling her to go in, telling her to help fight. That child wasn't all Pogue, there was a bit of her in there too.

With that last thought, she savored one more moment of warm air, her hand opening the car door and leading her out before she was ready. Rain hit her like cold sharp daggers, bullets piercing her tough skin and chilling the soft-hearted creature she was inside, steeling her and giving her strength.

The door slammed shut behind her and she ran up to the front door, glass grinding into the bottoms of her slip-ons. She opened the front door hastily, not at all surprised when it splintered and shattered in half as she attempted to do so. The wood clattered around her ankles, a splinter grazing her shin. She held her breath, eyes closed as she expected an attack.

When nothing happened she opened an eye, glancing around. Stepping carefully over the wood, staggering when a piece of glass slid under her foot and nearly overbalanced her, she allowed her eyes to adjust to the near darkness.

There was no one in her sight, the only evidence that they had been there moments ago was a piece of the banister snapped off it's supports, swaying precariously. She reached out to stop it from swaying, her eyes elsewhere when she felt her fingers slip on something wet and sticky.

Her breath was stuck in her ribs and her blood was thundering through her veins, so loud she was afraid someone might hear her heart hammering away behind her breasts. She held her hand up, a slight beam of light filtering through the broken doorway enough to illuminate her fingers and glisten off the dark liquid that was smeared across them.

"No…" it came out as a breath, and the ones that followed trembled as much as her hand. Her eyes went to the floor, where a trail of blood droplets lead down the hall, leading away. A shadow fell over them, and as though her back had been pressed to a wall of ice, Kate felt herself freeze.

"Don't move." her eyes stared straight ahead at the floor as she willed herself to stay silent and to stop trembling, but it was no use. She was too scared. His hands pressed to her lower back, and as though she'd known it was there all along, she lunged for the staircase, hand grappling at the blade handle protruding from the wall. "Damnit, I said _hold still_!"

She ripped the blade out of the wall, turning in time to avoid Caleb's fist. She kicked at him, berating herself when her foot barely clipped his leg and didn't faze him. She closed her eyes and thrust the blade foreword, trembling when she felt a sharp pain in her fingers.

"Wrong end, Kate." his voice was thick with humour, and when she opened her eyes, illumination from the doorway falling directly onto her hand, she watched as the blood pooled from around her fingers where she'd been grasping the blade, the handle resting nonthreatening against Caleb's shoulder.

She felt her head hit the wall before she felt the back of his hand strike her face, black blotting out black as her adjusted vision began to cloud with unconsciousness. She stubbornly shoved it away, her fingers gripping uselessly for something to strike Caleb with, aware he was coming closer.

"Leave her alone!" Reid's voice was like music, snapping her out of her dizzy trance. She cringed at a pain in her stomach, screaming when it intensified. "I told you to leave her alone!" opening her eyes she seen a faint blue light had wrapped around her midsection, Caleb was standing over her with a hand out toward her and another toward the top of the stairs.

Reid was on his knees on one of the top stairs, hands around his throat as though he couldn't breath, eyes wide with fear as he stared back at her. A movement in the darkness distracted her from the incredible pain in her stomach and she turned toward it, finding it was over Caleb's shoulder.

Pogue approached, a large gash down his forehead bleeding profusely and a graze that looked like a burn marring his cheeks. His eyes were blacker than she'd ever seen them, swirling with hot blue flames, a plank of wood from the splintered doorway held steady in his hands. He swung it, and Kate felt like screaming when Caleb ducked out of the way.

The grip around her stomach had released and so had the one around Reid's neck from what she saw, as the blonde man rolled down the stairs until his elbow hooked through the banister supports halfway down. Reid's eyes closed, and Kate had to stop herself from running to him when Pogue swiped at Caleb again with the plank of wood.

It smashed against the wall, cracking in half but not splitting completely. "What are you going to do now, Pogue?" Caleb taunted, grabbing the end of the plank and ripping it the rest of the way off, tossing it to the side. "You're all out of luck. I'll kill you, and I'll kill Kate. And then I'll still have Reid."

Pogue didn't answer, bloodied hands forming fists at his side. Reid stirred toward consciousness, and Kate grit her teeth when she grabbed the handle of the blade again, pulling herself up onto unsporting legs. As long as Caleb's back remained to her, she'd have a chance.

Her foot accidentally kicked the piece of wood Caleb had thrown onto the ground, and the dark-haired man turned to her, lips pulled back in the snarl of a hungry monster. Pogue's fist swung foreword, catching Caleb off guard and knocking him almost entirely off balance.

Kate let out a shout, the serrated blade of the knife driving itself into the back of Caleb's shoulder, right behind his heart. Pogue grabbed her hand, pulling them around into the living room and away from Caleb, who shouted furiously after them, pain lancing his voice.

She held onto him tightly, tears streaming down her face. Pogue returned the embrace, but after a moment Kate felt as though the grip was too tight. She was turned away from the wall, his back facing it. She watched over his shoulder as the plaster splintered and cracked, caving in under a huge amount of weight.

She was ready to be crushed by the wall when suddenly they were both thrown out of the way and against the glassless frames of what was once the window to the front of the living room. Aaron barely met her eyes before the weight of the wall and the power behind it collapsed on him. She wasn't even aware of her own screaming until after Pogue kicked out the window frame and pushed her through it.

"Come on!" he cried, grabbing her arm and dragging her with him away from the house.

"No, Aaron! Reid! Wait, please! Reid's still in there!" she screamed, fighting against him. He grabbed her and lifted her so her lower stomach lay over his shoulder, and while her body was fighting to be calmed by the warmth of his hands on the back of her thighs through her jeans, her mind struggled to get back to Reid. Back to Aaron.

Aaron had come out of nowhere, and he'd saved them, at the cost of his own life.

They were at the edge of the forest behind the houses when Pogue finally let her down, and she allowed herself to be dragged further into the trees and the darkness they brought with them. When they'd gotten far enough away, Pogue stopped, letting her hand go and stepping away.

She wrapped her arms around her stomach, managing to stay on her feet despite hardly having the energy to stand, sobs gripping and shaking her throat forcefully. They hadn't calmed before Pogue approached again, wary like stepping too close to an angry caged animal.

She spun, landing a hard slap to his face, eyes wild and furious. "How could you! Reid's still in their! Our friend is still in there! You abandoned him!"

Pogue narrowed his eyes. "Reid told me to take the first chance I could and escape! He got in my head and made me leave with you, I had no choice!" he shouted, angry and taken aback by her assault.

"You're stronger than him, you could have stayed! You abandoned him!"

"Don't you ever accuse me of abandoning my brother." he said lowly, and Kate felt a stab of guilt in her stomach. What was she saying, she had no idea how their ways worked. The strength of one doesn't necessarily beat the force of the other.

"I'm sorry." she whispered quietly, and Pogue's expression softened completely, the same adoring and forgiving look she was so used to seeing on his face.

"I know."

* * *

**Act III**

Reid had managed to drag himself to the bottom of the stairs, waiting for Caleb to check the damage in the living room before he ran as quick as he could toward the doorway, avoiding the planks of wood that had split from the door and the glass that had sprayed from the windows. Kate had injured Caleb severely; it had taken him too long to gather as much power as he had, and it was obvious Caleb was growing tired.

He had to get out of the house, into the forest and try to get to the edge of the reserve. If he could make it out of clear view of the house at least, he might even be able to find Kate and Pogue.

He was into the forest and wanting to rest, his feet felt like they were about to snap from his ankles, but he was unable to stop running. His mind wasn't letting him stop. He had to get away, his body had to run further. Further away.

Up ahead there was a shadow, a figure standing back-lit from the moon as it peered through the bases of the trees at the top of the hill. He knew the posture too well, the same arrogant demigod stance that was a trait of those with the power.

"Caleb…" he murmured to himself, hoping the man didn't see him as he turned and pressed his back to a large thick-based pine tree beside him. His fingers dug into the bark, peeling it from the tree as he waited for someone to come up beside him. His blonde hair stuck plastered to his forehead with cold sweat, his chest moved quickly, bordering on hyperventilation.

There was a rustle to the side, Reid's body locking up, his head turning to face the noise. A doe padded through the scrub, chewing lazily and eyeing Reid warily, one ear tilted back and legs stick-straight ready to run. It relaxed, ducking it's head to pick up more leaves, teeth working the vegetation into paste.

Reid let out a deep breath, smiling over at the deer, it's head picking back up as it stared at him again. It's ears perked back and it's large dark eyes flickered to something beside him before it broke off in a run, darting away through the trees.

Reid slipped on wet leaf litter, staring up at the man who was standing casually beside him. A laugh met his ears, one that made his heart stop altogether in familiarity. Only one person had a laugh as insane-sounding as that.

"Chase!" he hissed, treading backwards.

The man laughed as he stepped out of the shadow cast by the tree, his grinning face lit by the pale moonlight. "Who were you expecting? Caleb maybe?" he smirked at the shadow that crossed Reid's face at the name, moving too quick for Reid to see.

A fist struck him below the ribs, winding him and knocking him back against the rough bark of a nearby tree. A cold hand clamped around Reid's throat, constricting his breathing and starving his already breathless lungs, strangling him faster.

"Ngh…" he grit out, hands reaching out for Chase's face, trying to pry him away, panic blocking his thoughts like a wet rag over candlelight. Chase was still grinning as darkness pried his vision away from him.

"Tyler's waiting for you."

* * *

**Act IV**

"Gorman!" Caleb cried out, wooziness from blood loss setting in as his depth perception failed. He stumbled past the car door, the ground bouncing closer to his face despite not falling. He stumbled across the muddy ground, falling heavily against the front door to the original Danvers townhouse. "Gorman!" he called again.

The door creaked open, allowing him to stumble inside. It felt as though the blade had pierced his heart, blood stained his fingertips when he wiped his lips. There were footsteps coming down the stairs, and Caleb laughed voicelessly.

"Gorman, I need help."

"Gorman isn't here." Caleb's eyes snapped open despite their desire to stay closed, gazes locking between himself and the intruder.

"You…" he spluttered, drawing himself up onto his knees. Chase grinned over at him, before a worried look crossed his face. He approached, falling to his knees beside Caleb and cupping the younger warlock's face.

"You don't look too good, Cay. What's the matter, don't tell me that bitch actually did some damage." Caleb grit his teeth, spitting a mouthful of blood at the other man.

"Fuck you." he seethed, coughing and attempting to pull his face out of Chase's hands, only to have the older male's grip tighten, fingers digging sharply into his flesh, peering into his skull.

Chase ignored him. "Women, huh? They always stab us in the back. They'll just, I don't know, say that they love us, and then when it comes to the crunch the first knife they find is the one that's going to stake our hearts." he said, laughing lightly. "Oh wait a minute, it wasn't Kate you wanted was it. No, it was Pogue who stabbed you in the back by going back to her."

Caleb went to wrench away from Chase's grip, but the fingers dug into his temples, making his dark vision burst alight with white stars. Chase continued.

"Wait a second, it seems I'm wrong again. You stabbed Reid in the back by killing Tyler, and Reid in turn stabbed you in the back by plotting to kill you. Now, here's where I'm confused. See, if you both go behind one another's backs, well, that's one hell of a fucked up relationship you two have going there."

Caleb's teeth grit at the sound of Chase's amused laughter, a sharp intake breath passed through his teeth when Chase let his face go. Chase's hand traveled over his shoulder, finding the wound and digging inside it. Caleb cried out, biting his lip and gripping Chase's other wrist in his hand, dark eyes swelling darker.

"No I think there's more to this yet. See, if you murdered Tyler, that makes you a killer. And now that Reid's joined Tyler, well, you see where I'm going with this don't you?" he said, watching Caleb's eyes widen at the mention of Reid. "Hmm, no I don't think you do. Alright, here it goes. You are very, very much insane my friend."

Caleb let go of Chase's wrist, relieved when the other man stood up and stepped back a bit, hands out to the side as he spun around. He looked like a child, if it weren't for the manic grin on his face Caleb could have sworn that Chase was stuck in an infant's world, a simpleton.

Chase laughed louder and stopped spinning, a heavy sigh pressing through his lips. He lowered his head, face inches from Caleb's. "You know, I've never met another loon before. In fact, I think it would be awesome to have an insane friend, don't you?"

"You really are crazy." Chase stifled a chuckle, looking out the window.

"You wont believe this, but I'm more sane than you are. See, I don't go killing my brothers just because things don't go my way. That sounds, rather spoiled to me. Don't you think so, Cay?" he turned his back, stalking over to the window, running his finger across the dusty pane. "You know why you're alive? It's because of all those swimming muscles, they stopped the blade from going all the way through."

Caleb's eyes darkened, blue and orange flames swirling inside them. "What did you do to Reid!" he demanded finally, ignoring the directionless one-sided conversation Chase was blurting out. "I'll kill you if you hurt him!"

"Would you kill anyone who hurt him?" Chase asked, curious eyes glancing over at him. Caleb's teeth grated together.

"Yes."

"Regardless of who they are?"

"Regardless."

Chase had a solemn look on his face when he approached, kneeling down in front of Caleb and staring him in the eyes, undaunted by the dark ash and flames they had become. "Then Caleb, I think it's best you kill yourself."

Chase expected it when he was blown back into the wall, just as he expected it when Caleb overpowered him and forced his body impossibly further into the wall, which caved and dented around him. Caleb's fist was harder than he thought, and the taste of blood was one so foreign he was intrigued by it for seconds too long.

With Caleb's hands around his neck, toes of his boots barely skimming the floor, he briefly considered that maybe he shouldn't have kept pushing him. The look in Caleb's eyes, the need to kill him, was enough to leave him satisfied.

"You're weaker than before." Caleb said, eyes flickering across Chase's face and examining the fresh red bruises. "What happened to all that power?" Chase grinned, bloodstained teeth and split lips.

"You have no idea."

* * *

**Act V**

**_Fourteen Hours Earlier_****  
**

_Everything sounds so slurred, _he thought to himself. He was sure that distant echoing sound was birds chirping. That sound that vibrated in his ears and shrunk inside his temples, sounding tinny and stagnant, was a woman singing. It hurt his head.

He groaned with an effort to slide his arms from under the covers, clamping his hands over his ears. His fingers were weak, his bare skin burning. The sounds came back like dam walls crashing and crumbling away, a tide of noises washing over him and saturating his senses, as though someone had just suddenly turned the volume on.

He shot up from where he'd been laying, hands trying to cover his head. He opened his eyes finally, blurry double vision greeted him. As though a veil of cotton was lifted from his sight, colours and sharp-edged clarity greeted him. He focused not on his surroundings but rather the intense light spilling into the room from his window.

Hissing, he lifted an arm to block the sun, pale eyes searching through the large, tall window in case he could see anything. As his sight adjusted, he took in the spidery tendrils of lilac and the swaying stems of lavender, bees the golden colour of the honey they made buzzed and settled on leaves and petals, glittering like little drops of syrupy dew in the direct light.

_Where the hell am I?_ he thought, kicking the white and burgundy satin blankets away from his body, and despite the temperature of his skin he shivered. After wiping a gathering of sweat from his brow, he stared down at his naked body, holding his hands out and staring at them.

His body temperature was too high to be normal, but he felt well enough. His nails were dirty with dried blood, his skin was clean and humming, small prickles of static climbing underneath his flesh from his toes to his scalp. There was a faint whirring in his head, like the mechanical sound of a hummingbird's wings.

_The last thing I remember… _he trailed off, wide eyes staring at his hands, fingers slowly clenching toward the centre.

'_Don't say his name!'_

He staggered to his feet, ankles trembling weakly and setting him back down onto the bed where he glared out the window. The woman had stopped singing.

He flexed his toes and ankles, working out the stiffness in his muscles. They felt tight and strung, unused, their inability to hold him up as though he'd tried to stand on jelly without expecting it to give way making him wonder. _How long have I been asleep?  
_

He finally managed to pull himself up onto his own two feet without supporting his weight on furniture, glancing around curiously. He found a chair by the window, wondering why he hadn't noticed it before, before realizing there was a pile of clothes sitting on them.

He tugged on the darkest ones; deep stony gray jeans and a black long-sleeved shirt. He was just sliding the sleeves of a dark gray hoodie over his arms when the door to his room opened.

Molly Parry screamed in shock, a vase of water and flowers slipping from her hands and crashing to the floor. The brown-haired woman stared at him with large owlish eyes, gawking at him as though she'd seen something terrifying.

He grit his teeth, eyes flashing near black as he jumped up onto the sill of the window. He barely had to look back to know Molly had fainted, her body hitting the floor loudly, shards of glass scraping against the floorboards as she landed on them. He considered going back to check if she'd hurt herself, but Reid's face passed through his mind.

_I have to find Reid._

He leapt over the shrubs, feet taken him on a well worn path across a dirt road and into the edging of a dry forest, brown twigs and pine needles crunching underfoot and sending a strong scent into his nostrils. His eyes slid closed, trusting his body to lead him.

Several times he'd felt the cold rush of air vaguely pass across his skin as he ducked or swerved around a tree, he sensed when he had to brace himself while leaping from somewhere slightly higher up such as a boulder or a thicket. He could have been running for hours or it could have been minutes, but his heart froze in his chest and he stopped right on the spot without even opening his eyes.

A salty tang carried on a cold breeze, dusting his cheeks and flicking his hair away from his face, a ghost of how he usually kept it brushed back. Water crashing against rocks and gulls gawking, crying out at him stung his still sensitive ears. He scuffed his foot foreword, the sound of small pebbles dropping down a step-ladder of ledges echoing through his head.

Opening his eyes wearily he was met with the sight of endless sky, sooty with the distant aftermath of storm, black clouds hanging like spiders on a web stretched across his entire gaze. The ocean waves keened violently into the bottom of the cliff face below, white water rolling over top of dark green seaweed. A slight mist sprayed up, whipping almost weightlessly against his skin.

_I've never been to the ocean, It's so endless, _he thought to himself, staring out at it in mild awe. Usually it was enough to make him shudder with excitement, but it was different now. He was different now. He briefly wondered about Molly back in the strange room he'd woken up in, but the thoughts faded to Reid once again. _It's very, very endless._

His lips curled into a smirk, blue eyes swimming in black steadily darkening. He gave one last distant look to the horizon, the last few moments of golden sunlight melting behind storm clouds as he watched, before stepping off the ledge, disappearing into the ocean seemingly an age below.

'_You're my only choice.'_

'_You make it sound like you had no choice.'_

'_And you make it sound like I still have a choice.'

* * *

_

**Act VI**

**_Present Time_  
**

Sarah had sat at the dorms waiting for Pogue and Kate to come back for hours. She'd tried calling Pogue or Kate's cell, but no one picked up. She tried calling Pogue's house, but the line was disconnected. She'd even tried calling Caleb, and no one answered.

So when she found herself in front of Pogue's house, she wasn't surprised that it was only four in the morning, but she was surprised at what she found.

The house looked like it was barely standing, it was leaning unstably against Caleb's house, the fire-escape twisted up, metal bars curling outward as though something had exploded through it. The ground in front of the house was littered with shards of glass, the front door was merely a few pieces of wood precariously hanging off a set of hinges that were half ripped out of the frame. The living room seemed to have collapsed in on itself.

She saw Pogue's car a few meters away, small pieces from Pogue's front windows decorating the bonnet like small stars that fell from the sky. Stepping out onto the gravel, she eyed her surroundings warily. By the time she was stepping through the hazardous foyer she realised she was more frightened than she'd ever been, and yet she was still going.

"Kate?" she called out, leaning to the side to glance into the kitchen. "Pogue, Reid, you guys in here?" she grabbed the end of the banister that was hanging limp off the supports, forefinger brushing the dark maroon stain on the end. "Caleb?" she said, quieter.

She was about to make her way up the stairs, hesitating to run her finger across a clean gash in the wall which appeared to be made by a knife. _What the fuck happened here?_ she felt tension knot in her throat, fear seizing her so suddenly she could hardly breathe.

"Kate!" she cried, spinning around and turning toward the door. A quiet groan stopped her, and she found herself turning around quicker than she thought possible. It came from the living room. "I'm coming, I'm coming!"

She stepped carefully over splintered pieces of wall and broken furniture, realizing it was coming from underneath a collapsed wall. Uncaring of sharp edges, her hands grabbed broken pieces of plaster and wood, shoving it out of the way. Finally, after one last piece of framing was shifted with a large amount of effort, she spotted something moving.

She thought it was Pogue at first, because he had dark hair that came halfway down his neck. He was covered in a fine powdery dust from the plaster, which was stained red and maroon in some places. She rolled him over carefully, surprised to see who it was.

"Aaron?" she asked tentatively. He groaned, eyes never opening. She checked his face for wounds, namely his eyes, before pressing her lips to his dusty hair. "Don't worry, I'll get help."

* * *

**Act VII**

When Reid woke, all he saw was white light. Maybe he made it to heaven after all? Dark shapes started to form around the edges of his narrow vision, and patches of blue began to form. Sky, and trees. Lots of trees. He could hardly feel his legs, the mark on his ankle from a few nights ago where he'd injured it falling off the fire escape was burning.

So he wasn't in heaven?

When you first wake from a deep sleep, but you're not quite in the world of the conscious, your body becomes hypersensitive because it's had rest, like a recharged battery works best the moment you start using it. Sounds you normally wouldn't hear seem too loud, your body either feels hot or it feels cold, and its hard to keep your eyes closed.

There was a distant thrumming sound in his ears, like running. He shivered from the cold, a stale bitter taste of fear melting on his tongue. The footfall was growing closer, and Reid rolled over onto his stomach, blades of grass brushing his skin and the scent of earthy mud filling his nostrils.

He was laying in the slope of a hill, his line of sight cut straight across the grassy top of it. In his sights was a tall electrified chain-link fence, mere feet away. He was on the edge of the reserve; how did he make it here? The last thing he remembered was Chase strangling him.

'_Tyler's waiting for you.'_

The footfall stopped, the wire fence rattling as something hit it. Reid didn't want to look, he was afraid of what he'd see, but he couldn't help it. He lifted his head, fingers digging into the soft malleable earth beneath his body.

"Damnit!" the voice was loud. The blonde's lips parted, his numb legs unmoving despite every muscle in his body telling him to do so. The man stood with one hand in his pocket, staring accusingly up at the high-voltage sign beneath the barbed-wire top of the fence, though the lights weren't lit meaning the power was still out. He was flexing his other hand which was bleeding, cut on a piece of stray wire.

Reid grit his teeth, pulling his torso off the ground and dispelling the thought that Caleb was behind him, watching him. "Run. Run!"

As though a spell had been released his legs which had been numb and paralyzed only moments before were running toward the fence faster than he'd ever ran. The dark-haired man seen him, disbelief clear in his eyes.

"Reid!"

'_Tyler's waiting for you.'_

'…_Tyler…Tyler…Tyler, Tyler, Tyler!'_

"Tyler!"

* * *

**A/N: **Oh 'you have no idea' indeed Caleb, at least when you're facing more than just one brother with a grudge.

**Questions to be answered **_(or not) _**next chapter;** is Chase really a good guy? What's happened to Tyler? What have their parents been hiding from them? Where are Pogue and Kate? What the _f**k_ is going on?

Well, I wonder if you're all confused…then again you're probably all just happy that Tyler's back, yeah? I couldn't make you guys suffer any more than you were already, It felt too cruel. (Oh, and the whole Pogue/Caleb ultimatum didn't count because Kate and Aaron intruded, otherwise one or the other would have died)


	11. XI: Walking On Glass

**The Last Heart  
MyurraK**

_**From the Ugliest of Crimes comes the most Beautiful and Deadly of them all**_

**Chapter XI  
Walking On Glass**

**Act I**

"Reid!"

'_Tyler's waiting for you.'_

'…_Tyler…Tyler…Tyler, Tyler, Tyler!'_

"Tyler!"

Their bodies pressed up against the fence at the same time, fingers linking and holding tightly through it, lips pressing desperately between it. The feeling of Tyler's soft, warm fingers digging into the back of his hand, his palm pressing against his obscured only slightly by the thick metal of the fence, was as reassuring as the spark of warm static that made the jump between their lips, crawling over their skin.

Reid was aware of everything and nothing at the same time. He was aware that his lips were bitten, split and chapped while Tyler's were as soft as they had always been. He was aware that the skin of his fingers were cold and rough with healed and not healed wounds, while Tyler's were warm and smooth as they had always been.

"You died, I swear you died."

He was aware that his eyes were overflowing with tears when he pulled away, while Tyler's were overflowing with warm relieved emotions. Tyler was just as he'd remembered him, and yet he was also changed. His eyes were a darker blue and his hair was longer and looser. His skin was paler and his expression hid an anger that only he could see.

"I've just been asleep." Tyler reassured, fingers reaching through the wire and stroking Reid's face gently, smoothing away the tears. "I didn't mean to leave you alone." Reid closed his eyes, fingers gripping Tyler's other hand like a lifeline.

"I love you, Ty. Never leave me again. Ever, or I'll kill you myself." Tyler laughed softly, but sadly.

His eyes switched between each of Reid's own opaline ones, the sad humourless smile still on his face. "What happened to you?" Reid shook his head, stepping back but keeping his arm out and leaving their fingers joined. He stared up at the fence, assessing how high it was.

"It doesn't matter. Lets just run away, I have to get away from him." Tyler frowned, pressing his forehead against the wire.

"Who?" he growled, startling Reid who turned curious eyes to him. He'd never heard Tyler angry, let alone as furious as he sounded now. "Love, who hurt you."

"Baby boy, lets just run away and forget it. Someone else can deal with it, I wont lose you to him again." Reid protested, bringing himself against the fence again.

"Who was it, Reid."

Reid bit his lip, pale blue eyes watching Tyler's furrow and darken in confusion. "Caleb."

The rage that spilled into Tyler's eyes was both something Reid wanted to ignore and wanted to question. It wasn't at all like Tyler to be so furious. He'd never hurt anyone in his life, and suddenly the darker shade of his eyes seemed to say more to Reid than they had before. _Nevermind what happened to me, what happened to you…_

Reid smiled despite his tears, bringing their lips together again, feeling Tyler's body relax once again through the simple gesture. He and Tyler were like a pair of magnets, turning everyone else away but when it came to one another they snapped together. Reid felt as though their bodies were compelled to attach together, to touch one another.

They fit together so tightly that it didn't matter if there were imperfections on the other side. It was the way they were together that mattered.

"Love you, Reid. Never wanted him to hurt you. I never wanted to hurt you." Reid smiled, eyes flickering between each of Tyler's, furious at the fence between them for obscuring his vision.

"You never did. It was him."

"Then I'll kill him."

* * *

**Act II**

"What have you done!" Caleb shouted suddenly, ignoring the fire of pain that shot up his spine when he pushed Chase further up the wall. Chase's grin remained, though his laugher was diced into a gurgled cough, bloodstained teeth glittering, dark liquid dribbling from the corner of his mouth. His shoulder was burning but the wound was slowly healing, the blade having been only millimetres from piercing his heart.

All this power, and it had almost been Kate to end his life.

"Well maybe, if you ask nicely, I'll tell you." he said between gasped breaths and raspy constricted coughs. Caleb pulled his arm away, Chase's feet setting uneasily on the floor. Caleb brought his knee up, delivering a sharp blow to Chase's abdomen. His fist drew back, clipping the older male across the face while his body was hunched over and while he was unprepared.

Chase fell to the floor, scratchy rotten floorboards keening under his weight. His lip was split, brow furrowed in pain. When his eyes opened they were dark grey and dizzily staring around, clearing dark stars from his vision. Caleb's foot kicked against Chase's stomach, winding him further and forcing the older male to curl into himself.

It reminded him of when he'd fought Chase at Putnam barn, when Chase was two thousand times stronger than he was, and then even after he ascended how Chase was twice as strong. It wasn't right. Whatever Chase had done, it had to be something bad.

"What have you done." he snapped viciously, grabbing the collar of the other warlock. "I'll rip your lungs out if you don't answer me."

Chase wasn't intimidated, despite the pain still causing the crease between his eyes and the dark lines of blood rolling from his mouth and his hairline. His brow rose tauntingly, challenging Caleb and pushing him further. Caleb heaved Chase's back off the ground before slamming him back down, the other man's head striking the floor harder.

"Don't you like breathing? Alright I'll try something else. I'll claw your god damned eyes out. I'll use your guts as shoelaces. I'll scatter pieces of your body over the entire country." Chase flinched away from Caleb when he leaned down, forcing their eyes to meet. "Now," he said, wiping the trail of blood from the other warlock's chin with his thumb. "tell me what you've done."

Chace shrugged himself away from Caleb, not caring he didn't have the strength to hold himself up. He rolled his tongue over his lower lip, testing the depth of the earlier split, and meeting Caleb's dark insane eyes. "When you set your mind on revenge, be sure to dig two graves, Cay."

"What's that supposed to mean!" the younger of the two shouted, fingers ticking with the urge to strangle Chase when more laughter bubbled out of his throat.

"Don't you get it yet?" he grinned, looking every bit like the insane man Caleb remembered. "Cay, what did I originally come here to do?"

"Get revenge on the covenant."

"And that didn't work, did it?"

"No." Chase cocked his head to the side, a smile still playing on his bloodied lips. His brow rose again, as though saying Caleb should rethink his answer. "…yes?"

"And he begins to understand. Horrah." Caleb frowned at him, his hand grabbing the material of Caleb's jacket again and twisting it in his fist.

"Start explaining, right now." Chase's hand moved up and unhooked the younger man's fingers from his shirt.

"Fine, seeing as you can't work it out your damn self." he huffed. "I was weaker than you. It was part of my design, I understood that. So someone else needed to kill you for me, but no one else would have been stronger than you."

Caleb's lips parted and his eyes widened in shock. "Unless someone else willed their power."

"See my original idea was to get revenge on your little coven, but I wasn't strong enough to take out their leader. But you had a weakness and I seen it. It's hard to close ranks if you all start turning on each other." he grinned. Caleb's eyes widened further and he pulled away as though too close of proximity stung him.

"You made me kill Tyler. You got in my head!" Chase rolled his eyes.

"And here I thought you were getting it right." he said, reaching up and cupping Caleb's jaw in his hand. "Brother, killing Tyler was all you. I just watched and waited in the shadows. I saw my chance and sunk my claws in at the first chance."

"If it wasn't me you influenced, then who'd you get to."

"Why, your very own little pet." Caleb frowned, digging his nails into his palm. "Once I could get one of you away it would be easy to cast an illusionist spell. But there were catches in everything. If I took Pogue, that bitch would have figured out he wasn't real. If I took Reid, you and Tyler would have figured it out, and vice versa if I took Tyler. You and your obsession gave me everything I needed."

Caleb was suddenly slammed away and to the other side of the room, invisible bindings securing his wrists and ankles to the wall he'd landed heavily against. Chase was in front of him in a moment, face shadowed from the lack of light.

"Try not to let your guard down so much, Cay. It doesn't matter if you're stronger than me, I've been practising. It's all a matter of will, see."

"I bet you'd know all about _will, _wouldn't you." Caleb spat. Chase appeared surprised and took a step back, but he chuckled and ran a hand through his hair, smudging a trail of blood from the cut on his hairline over his face.

"It's your fault, you know. You remember that game of foosball, when Pogue came up and told us about Reid and Tyler playing Aaron and his boys? Your eyes flashed with something. At first I wasn't sure, but then the fight started and suddenly I knew. You wanted one of them." he whispered, stepping closer again. "But there was a problem, wasn't there. They were together, hell even I could see that. The way Reid was all over Tyler, the way Tyler softened the moment Reid was near. It's all so romantic, isn't it."

Caleb squirmed, trying to pull away from the fingers stroking his chin. He glared as hard as he could, but the power was still singing in binds around his wrists and he couldn't do anything to get away from them.

"It only took you a few months, but I knew that once you ascended your power would want to claim your little toy. It's all about dominance, see the power acts like a magnification of primal instinct. If one lives by it, they become like an animal. There's a wildness in their eyes, for example you or me." he said. "People think we're insane, but we're just living by our natural instincts. And mine tell me to kill every last one of you if it's the last thing I do." he leaned so close their brows touched. "What was yours telling you?"

"…kill Tyler." Chase grinned and laughed, stepping back and clapping his hands.

"I knew you had it too! See, some of us are born with that trait and others develop it, like you did. Reid, Pogue and Tyler? They were weak, they weren't born with it like I was. That's why it had to be one of them that ended you."

Caleb frowned. "I thought you just said they were weak."

"Well, Reid's a fair bit stronger than the other two, but none of this matters now. See, I inherited my father's instinct as well as my own, which was an exact copy. I guess the intense desire to kill you all made me…sloppy."

"Yeah, considering the fact you're now the weak one it sure did." Caleb sneered, and Chase ignored him.

"The best thing I ever did was willing my father's share of my power to someone else." he grinned, and at the look of horror on Caleb's face he confirmed silently that the younger man hadn't worked it out. "See, it's really easy to cast an illusionist spell for someone who's dead…or supposed to be, anyway." his hand set on the wall beside Caleb's head.

"…Tyler…"

"Ha, that's right Cay. Seems you weren't picked for valedictorian for nothing, eh? You've still got some brains in there." he said, slapping a hand to Caleb's cheek. "All I had to do was put on some sweet talk and charm the parents, not to mention Tyler's uncle. That good doctor in the hospital? In on it the whole time. All the elders fell for it. They took Tyler to some island off the coast, after I swore that there was only one way to save him."

Caleb bared his teeth and considered biting the hand that was still spitefully caressing his face. "He didn't die?" Chase shook his head.

"Honestly? Tyler would have woken up eventually, but I had everyone believing that he was going to die that they practically begged me to do it. Fell right into my lap." he grinned leaning down and pressing forehead to Caleb's, eyes closed. "I gave him half of my power, my father's share so that it wouldn't kill me. I felt it go in him, it was such a wonderful feeling. I wonder if that's what it feels like when you will your own power away. I guess the easiest way of explaining it is…sexual gratification. You ever felt that?"

Caleb grit his teeth harder, willing himself not to answer. He bit the inside of his cheek, rolling his lips together in a thin line and stared coldly down at the man, tugging absently on his restraints. Chase, not bothering to wait for an answer, continued.

"You know, I never thought your instinct was as vicious as it was. I mean, I know the power desires some carnal satisfaction, but to go as far as raping someone? I never thought you had it in you." he said sarcastically, grin widening impossibly further. "Oh wait, I did. In fact, I was counting on it. See once Tyler wakes up and finds out what you've done, there'll be no way to save you. Because you know what I discovered? The instinct trait is sometimes developed by obsession only moments prior to ascension."

"So if Tyler comes after me it wont be until after he's ascended and gained his own power."

"He already has revenge on his mind, revenge for trying to kill him and soon the revenge for laying a hand on Reid. What do you think his own power is going to turn into?"

"…when you set your mind on revenge, be sure to dig two graves…" Caleb said quietly in reply, and the amusement that had been plaguing Chase's face disappeared. His eyes flashed dark and Caleb felt the restraints on his wrists and ankles vanish, his weight throwing him foreword onto the floor.

"I've dug mine. Soon enough you'll be dead, and if Reid knows what's best he'll kill Tyler himself. Tyler will be the strongest in all our history, and when the time comes I'll will the last of my power to Reid."

Chase went to walk away, soles of his shoes resounding as heavy footsteps leading out the front door. Caleb groaned, calling out Chase's name. The man stopped, glancing over his shoulder, waiting for the younger man to continue. "You said you wanted revenge against the whole coven. What's going to happen to Pogue and his son?"

"Well I don't want us to go extinct. Pogue's son will survive to carry on the line on his own. What Pogue does is his own choice, I have no interest in him."

The front door to the old Danvers estate clattered harshly in it's frame as the intruder made his near silent exit, marked by only a few final words.

"See you in a few months."

* * *

**Act III**

Reid watched quietly as Tyler searched for something to cover the windows with, sheets or paint, even boards of timber would probably work. He watched how much more confident Tyler was in his own skin, how his body seemed to fit into itself a thousand ways better than it had before.

There was something different about Tyler, the way his darker eyes locked with his so possessively, the way his grip was harder and more dominant. Reid felt slightly daunted by the new changes in his lover, but his insecurities didn't compare when it came to how much he just missed the other male at his side.

As though reading his mind, Tyler gave up his hunt for something to bar the windows to the old Simms colony house, sauntering over and taking a seat beside Reid. It had been chance that they came across the old building, but Reid didn't really care. He just wanted to be out of the cold.

Winter was days away now, and with the snow gathering in the eaves of the windows and blowing under the gap between the door and the floor, it was more obvious than not that it was too cold to remain outside. His phone wasn't working, there was no signal under the sky-scraping trees and the intense storm cloud cover.

Tyler's shoulder pressed to his own, and for a brief moment Reid wanted to pull away, but the gentle warmth he was so used to and longing for was starting to seep through his side. Tyler shifted, laying his head on Reid's shoulder and moving his legs across the blonde's lap, arms moving to encircle his lover's waist.

Reid felt his gaze soften, and after a brief moment of hesitance he brought his own arms around Tyler's torso, embracing the other warlock and the changes that came with him.

Tyler's breath ghosted along Reid's neck, and his lips touched the cold pale skin there so briefly that Reid wondered if it was an accident. His hand came up to knead the fabric of Reid's shirt, twisting it around his fingers.

"Tell me everything." he murmured, and Reid almost smiled, thinking how childlike Tyler was being. He tilted his head to rest his cheek against the younger male's hair, sighing quietly to himself.

"I don't think I want to just yet." he said gently, hoping Tyler would just accept the answer and recognise it wasn't an easy admission to tell. Tyler's fingers clenched into a fist, his head moving from Reid's shoulder and his dark blue eyes turning against the blonde's gaze.

"Tell me." his voice was deep and commanding, and Reid found himself running his tongue across his lips nervously. Tyler's eyes caught the movement and the grip on his shirt softened for a spare moment before tightening again, pulling Reid toward him. Their lips melding together, Tyler's hand on his shirt collar and the other sliding along his spine, all Reid could think of was how much he missed this.

Tyler fell back, wrapping his legs around Reid's waist and pulling the blonde over him. Their lips met again, Tyler's hands moving down to unfasten the restraints of their clothing, when Reid stopped him. Pulling back gently, Tyler's lips unsuccessfully chasing his, Reid placed his hands on both of Tyler's, pulling them away from his clothing.

"No, wait." Reid murmured, Tyler pressing their lips together again gently.

"What's wrong?" he whispered, fingers flitting to Reid's brow and brushing his hair away from his eyes. "Did I do something?"

"No, just…can we just…lay like this for a while? I thought I lost you, I'm just…" Tyler's finger met his lips, silencing him. For a moment, Reid was almost certain Tyler's eyes were the same opaline blue they'd always been, but they remained dark. Dark with power.

"It's alright. Lets just sleep, we can talk tomorrow." the younger man said quietly. Reid nodded silently and lay his head on Tyler's chest, moving so that he was laying beside the younger man and loosely draping an arm over his abdomen. For a while he just stared straight ahead while Tyler absently brushed his hair to the side, the feeling of icy unsureness in his stomach melting slowly.

Perhaps he could accept this easier than he thought. He loved Tyler with his soul, trusted him with everything he had. Whatever had happened to make Tyler different, it wasn't enough to destroy them. He hoped.

"Ty?" Reid murmured, eyes straining upward to try and catch a glimpse of his lover without moving.

"Yeah?" his voice was deep and soft, vibrating through his chest and tingling against Reid's cheek.

"…I love you." Reid said, bunching the other man's shirt under the pads of his fingers, half closed eyes glistening with the threat of tears. "I love you so much."

"I know." Tyler replied, sliding his hand from Reid's hair down his arm. "I love you too, Reid."

* * *

**Act IV**

Perhaps it was when he'd told Caleb or perhaps it had been before that, but Chase knew distantly that his plans weren't going to fall through. A part of him realised that he'd known since he'd first lured Aaron into the forest and convinced him to join the game without telling him the rules. It was like he was playing chess against some undefined player, and the people of Ipswich were becoming his pawns.

He'd considered the many possible things that could go wrong with his plan, the number one being that Reid didn't actually turn on Tyler in the end. That maybe even if Reid initially rejected the other male, he might come around.

He'd never been in love, so he couldn't say where it's limits lay.

Like thick sediment in a still river, the many possibilities were sinking down on top of him, suffocating him. It would only take a few months, but when it was all over he'd be able to die knowing he'd achieved what he was designed to.

When he really sat down and considered it, he realised that there was one particular lie he'd told Caleb that stood out from any other he may or may not have voiced. The result didn't particularly matter to him. Since loosing a large portion of his drive for revenge, he'd found his instincts had calmed and settled with more clarity than he'd previously had. He wanted to stir trouble, he wanted to make them suffer, to chose between one another.

He'd never had a coven like they had, he'd grown up alone not knowing what exactly his powers meant. No one told him about the addiction, the consequences. The obsession.

He wanted them to split up forever and never look back. Never want to go near one another again. He wanted the coven broken, and after hundreds of years of people trying he was finally going to break it.

He didn't care particularly to what degree it was broken up to, he could live with Tyler and Reid remaining in love. He envied them, he'd never truly experienced any true kind of love and what they had was so strong. For a moment when he'd handed half his power to Tyler, he'd reached out and touched it, and he'd been a little bit in love with Reid himself afterward.

Perhaps, because of the path of life he'd traveled, he had gone a bit insane at some point. Just as Caleb truly had. It wasn't all the instinct, Caleb truly was crazy, and he was dangerous. But now, so was Tyler.

In a way, he was connected to Tyler. Through the gift of power he'd left a mark on Tyler, just as Tyler had left a mark on him. It currently wasn't a strong bond but it was there, sizzling beneath the surface.

Maybe these months would pass quicker than he'd thought.

* * *

**Act V**

He had been just downing his first beer when he seen them both approaching.

The mountains were still shadowed indigo, the sky a misty violet in one direction and a warm yellow in the other. The road was slightly muddy, pockmarked like bread from where heavy beads of rain had fallen the night before. The air itself was slightly chilly, but the front porch to his house was directly aligned with the first rays of morning sun.

Falling into a cane chair, it's legs scraping along the wooden veranda, he tipped his baseball cap and popped the lid off his beer, groaning as it slipped from his hand and rolled along the wooden strats. He went to reach for the cap, only to pause when he seen them both stumble out from the tree line further down the road.

He was the only house for miles if you didn't count his neighbours the Marsen family and his friend Deacon along with is fiancé. The two kids weren't from around there, and he certainly hadn't seen them in town, but it was certainly obvious they were lost and in need of help.

One was a dark-skinned girl, a hand held over her stomach and the other around her companion's waist. His arm was over her shoulder and linked with her hand, the other pulling a leaf from her hair. If it weren't for the state they were in, he'd have thought they'd simply gotten drunk and thought it would be fun to have a romp in the forest.

The girl had scratches down her arm presumably from the trees as the boy did too, but her hand had what looked to be a bloodied piece of shirt wrapped tightly around it. There was a dark bruise on one half of her face and her lower lip appeared to be swollen.

The boy was even worst of, shooting any concerns that he'd been the one to do that to her. Both his eyes were blackened with dark bruises, both of his cheeks sporting what looked like burn marks. There was a gash where he'd split his head open, a ring of red fingerprints around his throat and up and down his arm were covered in more bruises and cuts.

"Jesus christ." he muttered to himself, placing the bottle on the veranda beside the chair leg, watching as the two supported one another as they approached slowly, both appearing to be having trouble walking. They paused at the gate, giving him a wounded and pleading look, one he couldn't ignore.

He waved for them to come in, much to their visible relief, and they passed through the open gate and up the small pathway.

"What happened to the two of you?" he heard himself asking before he could help himself. The boy shook his head.

"We'll explain, I promise, but my girlfriend's pregnant and we really need to rest for a bit before we call our families." he nodded, letting the kids pass. He watched the two of them with a guilty conscience, opening his front door for them and watching them interact. The boy wouldn't be older than eighteen, the girl looking to be about the same age.

When he had been nineteen, he'd left his seventeen year old girlfriend because she'd told him she was pregnant with his child. He'd been scared and he'd ran far away, much farther south than he'd been before. No doubt she kept the child, that was just what she was like, but he'd never heard from her since. He hadn't thought about it for years, and for the years before that he'd been convinced it was the right thing to do.

But these two, it was such a rare thing to see. He'd never felt more guilty in his life as he did right at that moment.

After getting them both some water and heating a pie for each of them, he handed them a couple of blankets and told them to explain. The girl pressed herself to her boyfriend's side, staring down at their interlinked fingers and squeezing his hand. The boy looked straight at him, eyes unreadable and searching his face.

"Our friend went crazy." he said, lowering his eyes. "He's already killed one of our friends and he tried to kill both of us. We still have a friend out there, but we have no idea what's happened to him."

The man ran his tongue over his lower lip, staring directly at the two kids. If it weren't for the way he'd found them, he wouldn't have believed a word they'd just said. "Why'd he snap?"

"He's in love with the one we don't know what happened to." she said. "Something like that." she ran a hand over her stomach, before her eyes snapped up in shock. "Oh I'm so sorry, where are our manners. Here you are being so kind and you don't even know our names." she said in a rush, brushing her hand over her shirt and holding it out to him. "Kate Tunney."

"Pogue Parry." the boy offered, also holding out his hand after the man shook the girl's.

"Nick Jakley." he said, shaking his head at the two teenagers. "How old are the two of you?" he asked finally, sitting on the edge of the coffee table in front of them both.

"Oh, we're eighteen. And our son's only about two months into the pregnancy." Kate said proudly as though it were the most natural thing in the world to already be starting a family. Nick frowned.

"That's kind of young to know the sex." he stated absently. The girl blanched and sat back into the couch, falling silent, but the man didn't pry any further. "So how long have the two of you been together?"

"Since the beginning of high school. Kate here was a mid-term transfer and couldn't find her dorms, and who got stuck with being her tour guide but lucky me." he laughed at the look of distaste on her face. It was that first week or two that they really didn't get along, but she'd been there to witness one of their more violent interactions with Aaron and after seeing how he stood up for his friends she'd changed her opinion on him entirely.

"That's kind of young to be settling down, isn't it?" the man asked. Pogue and Kate spared one another a mutual glance.

"Not for us." Pogue said, "My family has a history of dying young, and Kate's always wanted to settle down before she was twenty."

"Plus my mother, grandmother and aunties have all had cancer, some dying from it, so I'm not expecting to be the ripest fruit on the tree in a decade or two either." she said, shrugging and smiling at her boyfriend. It was so obvious that they'd accepted their apparently terminal fates, and they seemed so happy together.

"Well, you can stay here till tomorrow if you'd like. The phone's in the kitchen, where all the food is, and if you're looking for the bathroom just open all the doors till you find it." he said, "But I just need to use the phone for a minute before either of you do."

It wasn't as though he didn't believe them, but he decided it was best he didn't pry. They probably wanted some time to themselves; underneath their smiles and laughs he could see there was a high-strung terror and a deep stream of shock.

He pulled the cordless phone out of it's cradle, his shaky hand attempting to dial a number that was so deep in his mind that he'd never really forgotten it. It was already ringing when he hesitated and considered that she'd probably changed her number anyway.

"_Hello?" _it was a little girl, laughter and whistles blowing in the background. _"Who is this?"_

"Uh, this is Nick Jakley. Um, is Lisa Dillmore around?"

"_Yeah, but she's helping grandma with the cake right now and she doesn't want to be disturbed."_

"Oh, okay that's fine." he was about to hang up but curiosity got the better of him. "What's your name?"

"_Twyla."_ the girl said, laughing. _"I'm seven today!"_

"T-today? Aw, sweety that's…happy birthday darlin." he murmured, the number seven revolving around in his mind like a record on loop. "Tell you what, you enjoy your birthday, make a big wish when you blow out the candles, and I'll call your mother back later."

"_Kay, bye mister Nick-man, sir."_

The dial tone rung in his ear, warning him to put the phone down. He glanced through into the lounge room at the couple of kids curled up there and considered to himself. Either coincidence followed those two around, or fate did. He was willing to place money on the last one.

Whoever they were, he owed them shelter at least. He'd have never heard his daughter's voice otherwise.

* * *

**Act VI**

"Dear, are you sure you're alright?" Giles murmured to his wife. The plump brunette swatted his hand away, pressing the icepack to her brow harder than before. Molly had been found by her husband unconscious, having hit her head on the way down, and Tyler had been found missing.

It seemed that her concussed state wasn't the priority, however, and jumped when she heard Mathew swear and pound his fist against the table, rattling her expensive china teapot and cups. "Mathew Garwin, stop that immediately." she hissed, groaning when her head protested.

"I think we've been had. Tyler's such a nice boy, I'm certain he wouldn't have just left Molly lying there if he were himself." Lillian Garwin said, biting her lower lip. "Now everything's such a mess, I can't tell who's on our side and who's on the other side."

"From what I can tell," Nathaniel Simms spoke up, "there are more than two sides. I told you that trusting that Chase boy was a bad idea."

"Than why'd you agree to it?" Molly snapped, rolling her eyes and holding a hand up as a means of apology. She really could go for some painkillers.

"Because I was scared my boy was going to die."

"Technically we killed him." Lillian said. "He's had a funeral and everything, going out into the world he's not even Tyler anymore. He's just someone else who looks like him. The lies we had to spin just to keep him safe so he could heal. I still don't understand why we had to lie to my son, now he's been hurt."

"Hurt how?" Tarren asked, reaching over and clasping her hands over Lillian's.

"Caleb attacked him." she said quietly.

"No surprise there." Giles chipped in, but Lillian glared at him and Molly swatted his shoulder to keep him silent.

"No, Caleb _attacked _him." Lillian tried again, her voice breaking. "He _raped_ my_ son._"

When the next person spoke, it was Tarren, keeping her voice low and careful. "You do realise all our children are out there with that monster?"

"And Chase is still out there." Molly reminded, wincing one eye closed as she tried to stare up at the icepack.

"And there's something wrong with Tyler." Nathaniel admitted, earning wary nods from everyone as they eyed him and Tarren carefully, aware he was admitting his son was damaged.

"And Kate's pregnant." Mathew said finally, earning wide-eyed looks from Molly and Giles, who's jaws dropped slightly. Molly's face began to turn red and Giles blanched incredibly pale.

"What!" they shouted together, Molly wincing at the tone of her own voice and trying to soothe the throb in her temples with the pads of her fingers. Lillian sighed, hanging her head and laying it on Tarren's shoulder."Oh when I get my hands on that boy!"

"Alright, get Molly back on her feet and we'll go find our kids, before anything bad happens." Tarren said, threading her hand through her friend's long blonde hair in an attempt to comfort her. "Because right now, all I want is to see my son again."

* * *

**A/N:** Alright, this is hopefully catching you up on the basic plot here; and now Reid and Tyler's relationship is threatened by a completely different thing altogether. (This story so isn't going to be as short as I'd originally planned it.)  
Sorry for taking so long with the update; A lot's been happening recently and I've been sidetracked.  
Another note, the OC Nick and his 'family' were only extras and will probably only be mentioned passingly from here on in. I find it hard to use an OC for anything other than supporting roles.  
Alright, so if anyone still has questions feel free to ask them; I'll tell you if it's still a secret or not.

**MK**


	12. XII: Where You've Come To Cry

**The Last Heart  
MyurraK**

_**From the Ugliest of Crimes comes the most Beautiful and Deadly of them all**_

**Chapter XII  
Where You've Come To Cry**

**Act I**

Days turn into weeks when you don't pay attention to time. The winter was hard to ride out in such seclusion, no access to heat and forced to live off food either hunted or stolen. They'd tried to create food, but it wasn't anything more than an illusion that left their empty stomachs in pain and their mouths dry.

They kept warm at night by wrapping themselves in each other, mouths and hands setting skin afire with pleasure and heat. The longer time wore on, the more used to Tyler's change Reid became. There was something in Tyler's eyes, and something in his heart, that gave away this change that Reid would have otherwise overlooked as simple trauma.

Sometimes when Reid went out to search for food he could swear he heard a voice beckoning to him, telling him Tyler wasn't Tyler anymore. But Reid knew differently. When he closed his eyes and took in everything of his lover, he knew. _This_ was Tyler.

After the fifth day of being snowed inside the colony house, they'd exhausted every other option. Rather than using the door, Tyler had kicked out the top two panels of one of the front windows, replacing it with a board ripped from one of the internal walls to keep the snow from coming in. Tyler had parted the snow from in front of their new exit, but left enough so that they could simply step out of the opening. The first step had left Reid's entire leg soaked with icy water as he'd sunk into the snow, and after finding no other possible way he had to use to keep himself from sinking in the snow again.

"You know about lions, Reid?" Tyler had said, falling beside him and landing gracefully on two feet, power rippling from the soles of his shoes and compacting the ice he was treading on.

"Yeah a little. They're big, fast and they eat zebras." he had replied, bumping his shoulder against Tyler's. "Why?"

"Did you know that they live in prides? The females do the hunting and the male fathers all the cubs. They aren't as vicious as people think. They kill to survive, but when they're with their pride, you can see the love they hold for one another, a family unit. You know, the covenant used to be about that."

"Yeah, I guess so. We've sort of split our separate ways, huh?" Reid said, slinging an arm over Tyler's shoulder and pressing his lips chastely to the other man's dark hair.

"Hmm. We were like cubs that had come of age and were about to be introduced to the pack, only to have a new male lion come in and kill the last one. You know male cubs are kicked out of the pride and form temporary partnerships with other nomadic males, until they're old enough to take over a pride of their own? Sometimes those packs of males stick together, they've become so close that they can't separate." Tyler continued.

"Then I guess we're like those two little cubs who can't let go, huh?" Reid teased, Tyler's arm moving to wrap around his waist, fingers ghosting over his skin as he grabbed the hem of his shirt and toyed with it.

"And when the Winter ends, we'll both be strong enough to take over the pride again, side by side." Tyler said. "We'll put the covenant right again."

"How?" Reid asked, turning to his lover only to realise they were pretty much the same height now, rather than Tyler being shorter. Tyler smiled, not meeting his eyes as he spoke.

"Lions kill to survive."

It had been days, and although Reid knew that Tyler wasn't kidding, he'd done his best to avoid thinking about the words. They'd caught and killed a pair of fowls, something Tyler surprisingly didn't seem to fond of doing, which left Reid to carry them back to the colony house.

It had probably been the look of sadness in Tyler's eyes when he had ended the fowl's life that proved to Reid exactly what he'd believed. It was still his Tyler.

After that, Reid had decided he'd be the one to hunt for food, that is, unless they were searching to steal from people's cars and houses. Then they'd both go. Their first trip had gone smoothly; the walk had been several hours there and back again, they'd stumbled onto the highway where a car was sitting out in the open, the driver no doubt going into the trees to relieve himself.

Reid had kept an eye over the roof of the car as Tyler fished around on the backseat, which had been covered in bags and suitcases. Finally he'd found two cooler bags and a plastic bag filled with cans. They'd shut the door as quickly as possible, darting back across the road and into the forest without the driver have even come back out from behind the trees.

They watched in silence as he ambled around the front of the car and climbed into the driver's side, taking off without even a slight inclination to the idea he'd just been robbed. They'd made their way back to the colony house easily enough before rummaging through the food. They'd gotten lucky that time, and they knew other trips would require breaking into houses and stores within Ipswich.

They'd obtained a few dozen cans of tuna, seedless cherries, peach and pear slices and packets of cheese. Inside the first cooler bag there were a few more cans of baked beans, bottles of coke and milk, containers of coffee and sugar and a few mugs. The last had containers of fresh food; cold chicken, sliced tomato and beetroot.

At least they weren't living off melted ice and badly cooked bird. A small fire was enough to keep them warm and heat whatever they could before their power exhausted from holding it over the flames. The food would sustain them for almost two weeks, as they insisted on eating as much and as often as they could rather than nibbling on rations.

If they drew their supplies out, they wouldn't have the strength to get more. They were eating and exercising regularly, and despite the fact that they didn't have clothes anywhere near appropriate for the temperature, they were steadily growing used to the cold, using each other for warmth when it got too much.

"Reid," Tyler said, eyes staring down into the dark burgundy juice of a can of cherries. Reid, after looking up from a cut he'd acquired on the sharp edge of a can of beans, smiled and moved to sit right up against the other man. "are you scared of me?"

Reid frowned, "Why would I be?" he asked.

"Because I'm different. Something's wrong with me."

"Nothing's wrong with you. You've changed, but you're still you." Tyler swiped a thumb over his forefinger, watching the purplish juice spread over his skin.

"So you _are_ afraid of me."

"I was a little, but nothing could keep me away from you Tyler. Know that." Tyler smiled faintly, dipping his forefinger in the can of cherries. Reid's eyes followed Tyler's hand as he removed it from the can, forefinger moist and stained purple from the syrup, and ran it softly over the blonde's lower lip, darkening to the colour of blood.

"Yeah, I know." he breathed, leaning in and crushing his lips to Reid's.

* * *

**Act II**

"He'll be fine, Ms Wenham." Doctor Gestion assured. "The wall crushed a couple of ribs, and he needed quite a few stitches. The coma's only minor, it's still in the early levels, and I have no doubt that he'll recover soon enough."

She took a calming breath before shaking her head at the man. "There's something about you that seems familiar." she said narrowly, the man sighing and taking a seat beside her. Across the room, Aaron's chest moved slowly under the covers as he breathed, eyes still behind closed lids.

"I believe I owe you an explanation, as your friends already have one. I am Tyler's uncle, and what I did was for his own good." Sarah frowned.

"What you did?" she asked slowly, spelling the words out.

"Yes. I handed the care of my nephew over to the other boy that said he could help." he clarified. "The Collins boy, he was the only one who could save Tyler's life and we trusted him with it. Now, I understand that you may not be to pleased that we kept this from you kids, making you all believe Tyler was dead, but you must understand that we had no choice."

"Wait, hold up a second." Sarah exclaimed, holding a hand out to silence the doctor. "Tyler's _alive_? And nobody's told me?"

The doctor seemed to realise his mistake but kept explaining anyway, realising he had already said too much to take back. "Tyler's alive and well. I received a call from my sister that he's also awake and that he's escaped the island we'd been using as a refuge for him to heal. My guess is that he went after Reid; that boy is so in love it's almost painful to see them separated."

Sarah didn't realise she'd been hyperventilating until the corners of her vision blurred and darkness covered her. She woke up out of it a few moments later, her head between her knees, the rough denim cool against her ears, while she held a bag over her mouth. She couldn't remember grabbing the bag, so she assumed she'd been absent for a few minutes.

"Tyler's alive, Tyler's alive, Tyler's alive," she was chanting slowly into the bag, each breath slowly making the plastic crinkle and fold in and out. She couldn't hear it, though, she could only hear her own mantra and the blood pounding rapidly in her ears. She tried to block out the sound by pressing her knees to the sides of her head harder.

"Ms Wenham, please, you have to calm down. You're having a panic attack. Listen to my voice, breathe slowly."

"I can't, I can't. Tyler's alive, he is. He's going to be fine. Tyler's alive," she murmured, unaware she had even been speaking as the thoughts spilled out. Her heart and lungs were in pain, cramping and contorting at the lack of oxygen and the anxiety wracking her like a frightened animal.

Finally, the carbon dioxide levels in the bag began to raise and her breathing slowed. She didn't want to move, knowing that if she lifted her head she was going to fall off the chair in a dizzy spell. The ground was still spinning obscurely when her knees gently released the pressure against the sides of her head, the doctor's hands on her shoulder helping her sit straight.

She didn't even know Tyler that well, but the shock of his death had been bad enough only to find out he was alive and no one had told him. She didn't know where Kate or Pogue were. She didn't know where Reid was. She didn't know where _Caleb _was. She didn't even know Chase was still _alive_, let alone where he was. She didn't even know _Tyler_ was still alive either. No one was telling her anything.

She had been so worried about Kate and Reid and Pogue she hadn't even considered what was actually happening without her. She wasn't safe, she wasn't helpful, she was a mess.

She really loved her friends, but what kind of person was she to only realise this after discovering the possibility that they were all dead?

Glancing up with pale watery blue eyes, she watched the steady rise and fall of Aaron's chest, surprised to find her own matching his as she moved to slouch back in her chair, tear tracks down her face and hands trembling. People can die any minute of the day or night, and yet they still take their lives and the lives of people around them for granted.

"…Tyler's still alive…"

* * *

**Act III**

"-and if there be thorns, let the beads of holy blood run down my finger and into the mouth of my love, the crimson stain shall give thee life and bring a rain of stars down upon us, all the while the crescent of the half-moon shall shield us from their condemning fire." Evelyn's eyes remained glued to the last word of the page, scarlet-painted nails tracing a circle around it.

"You know, that's the thing with William's poetry collection." a man spoke up from the lounge across from her. Evelyn hid a gasp and lowered the book, staring at the intruder in shock. "I could never quite get if the writers were a man speaking to a woman or vice versa."

"What are you doing in my house? Get out of my house!" she screeched, pointing a knobbly aged finger at the man. Nathaniel continued to stare at her, teeth grating together as he considered her silently.

"Your husband and I used to be best friends. The least you could do is spare me a few moments of your time, Eve."

"What do you want." she snapped, watching him cautiously. She reached for the crystal glass half filled with an amber liquid, fingers trembling as they wrapped clumsily around the glass.

"The location of your son. I know he's been to you since the attack, I need to know where he is." Nathaniel demanded. Evelyn closed her eyes to swallow the liquor, only to have the glass knocked from her hand, shattering against the tiles and bear-skin rug. She gasped as Nathaniel grabbed her wrist, fingertips burning where they pressed painfully into her skin.

"You want to hurt my son," she sneered, feebly trying to wrench her wrist out of his grasp. He squeezed harder, fingers tightening and cutting the circulation. She was too numb from the alcohol to notice his eyes beginning to swirl with blue and orange flames. "I wont let you hurt my son."

"Your son cannot be forgiven for what he's done to Reid, what he did to Tyler. And if you wont help me find him, my son will come after him." he growled, letting go of her wrist and grabbing her chin, dragging the woman closer and leaning down, barely any space between them. "And when he does, and I can assure you he will, you'll wish you were merciful and gave him to me instead. My son will not be kind."

"Tyler wouldn't hurt him." Evelyn breathed, dark eyes flickering worriedly between Nathaniel's. "Tyler wouldn't hurt anyone."

Nathaniel scoffed, letting the woman go and shoving her back into her chair. "Tyler's changed. He's dangerous, and I have no doubt that he's cruel, too. You think your son's insane? Just wait until my boy ascends. This world will be lucky to see daylight again."

"You sound proud of the demon he's become."

"If Tyler's a demon, it's only because your son is the devil." he hissed, turning his back on the woman. "He just created one demon too strong."

Evelyn blinked blearily, and the shape of Nathaniel had disappeared like a shadow is chased away by a sudden light. She took a few moments to stare mournfully at the photo of her husband on the lamp table, sighing to herself as she realised just how much her baby looked just like him, before slowly picking up the book again and reading the next poem.

"My body flows with the river, my limbs carried away like splinters of wood. The rain will water the flower that grows within me, the voice of the sky will lead this river into the sea. How is it I scoop hot coals into my lap and yet I do not burn, how is it I tread on glass like the world around me has shattered but do not bleed. And I watch from afar as you approach a fallen, a resting, a tired. You wrap your arms around her and cry a mournful cry. I am the air that watches from above as you open my dull eyes, the life that had once been inside them has escaped, bled away. I am neither dead nor alive; I am free."

Evelyn felt her throat seize up, Tyler's face burning in her mind as she traced with a shaky uncoordinated movement the last line of the stanza.

_I am neither dead nor alive; I am free.

* * *

_

**Act IV**

Reid woke to the sensation of Tyler's warm palm pressed to his navel, a single fingertip tracing the contours of his muscles. The fire was still burning to their left, Tyler's cheek pressed to his right shoulder and their legs tangled together at the knees. Reid smiled warmly, pressing a tender kiss to the top of the young man's head. Tyler startled, turning so his chin was resting on Reid's shoulder.

"I didn't mean to wake you." he said quietly, dark blue eyes still half lidded from sleep. The snow had fallen heavily that night, blocking out any chance of telling if it were morning yet as it covered the windows completely. The fire made the snow against the window panes that hadn't been covered with boards glitter, frost that had begun to line the inside of the walls sparkled like facetted glass.

The fire crackled and Reid shook his head, closing his eyes and tilting his head, Tyler leaning up and pressing their lips together in a brief soft kiss. "I don't mind." Reid whispered in reply, reaching over and running a hand over Tyler's upper arm, smoothing his thumb over the shoulder. "Baby boy, what are we gonna do after the Winter ends?"

"I don't know." Tyler replied, pressing a kiss to the pale skin of Reid's collarbone, teeth lightly brushing the skin.

"Tell me the truth." Reid gasped, the hand that had been resting on Tyler's shoulder moving up to capture the other man's hair between tightly interlocking fingers. Tyler blinked slowly at his lover, hesitating before he realised that Reid wasn't going to let the conversation drop, and leaned foreword again to bite Reid's shoulder. Teeth sinking into the flesh gently, Reid hissed and banished the memories of Caleb.

"I. Don't. Know." Tyler insisted, dragging his lower lip along Reid's throat and kissing the tip of his chin. "Honest." Reid sighed, moving to bring both his hands up to the base of Tyler's neck. Dragging the younger man into a deep kiss, burying the memories in the back of his mind with the press of Tyler's teeth biting into his lower lip. He didn't even feel when Tyler bit too hard, a bead of blood welling just below his lip. Tyler's tongue swiped at it, meeting Reid's when he subconsciously went to remove the blood himself, drawing them both into a silent battle.

Tyler turned away to rest his head on Reid's chest. "I'll make Caleb pay, Reid. I promise." he said finally, breaking the silence. "_That's_ what I plan to do when the Winter's over."

"No, don't you dare." Reid hissed. "He took you once, he can't take you again." Tyler lifted his head again, gaze locking with Reid's. Once again, Reid took in the unnaturally dark blue of Tyler's eyes, the length of his hair falling into his eyes, the darkness of his kiss swollen lips. He looked so seductive, so _dangerous_, and he was all Reid had.

"He _hurt _you."

"He'll _kill you_. Please don't make me go through that again. I won't survive a second time."

Tyler didn't say anything, instead closing his eyes and turning his head to the side, his breath evening out. Just when Reid thought he was asleep, the younger man slid an arm over Reid's waist and, after dragging his fingers gently over the blonde's hip, let his hand rest on the floor beside him.

"Tyler, I love you. You know that." Reid said quietly, staring over at the still crackling fire.

"Yeah, Reid. I know you do." he replied. "And I love you too. But I can't promise you that I wont go after Caleb. And when I do, I'll make him pay. He's going to regret ever fucking with us, Reid."

Reid ran the tip of his tongue over his lower lip, staring down at his lover in concern. There was a time when Tyler would say something like that and it would be a joke. Now, nothing was funny anymore.

* * *

**Act V**

_Drip. Drip. Drip. Tink. Drip. Scratch. Drip. Drip…_

Caleb's father, when his body was still young, had a love for art. He'd drape cloth over a large ply-board before covering it with splatters of paint in different colours. Caleb would watch from a screechy stool, swinging his legs like the inquisitive child he was.

_Drip. Scratch. Drip. Drip. Tink. Tink. Drip. Tink. Drip…_

After the colours would dry, he'd measure a large square of tracing paper to the same size as the board, before sketching an image onto it. After cutting out the pieces he wanted to blot in different colours, holding the paper up like a stencil, he'd dabble a darker shade over the top. When the blocked in colours had finally dried, he'd go over the painting with pastels, adding detail and focussing on light and reflections.

_Drip. Drip. Scratch. Drip. Tear. Drip. Drip…_

After years and years of painting out in the garden, he began to physically age too fast. His body could barely move, his voice could barely be heard. Slowly but surely, he was too disabled to paint anywhere but in the cellar. Metal shelves lined with glasses of paint-clouded water lined the walls, old pallets and tubes of paint, broken pastels and deteriorating paintbrushes collected on the ground.

_Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Scrape. Drip…_

And then he was moved to the old Colony house. The Danver's estate no longer smelt like old oil paints, freshly opened acrylics, or lacquer. No new paintings hung on the walls, and old ones were taken down and shoved in the cellar with all the other things belonging to William Danvers, left to develop mildew. The smell of damp air and mould was all that had been left to remind Caleb of what his father had taught him.

_Drip. Plunk. Drip. Drip. Scratch. Drip…_

The cellar was a cold place, colder than a Winter in Ipswich where the night was constant and the faint glitter of dust caught in spider webs were the only stars one could see. Grime-covered glass jars of coloured water stood absolute where they had been left for years and years on the shelves, time gluing them in place. Water from melting snow and leaky plumbing dribbled over the walls and pattered against the concrete floor, creating small rivers in the cracks and floods in the corners, dissolving paper and cardboard.

_Scratch. Scratch. Drip. Scratch. Drip. Plunk. Drip. Scrape. Drip…_

Since escaping the Colony house with barely more than a few scrapes and burns, and a few telltale bruises to boot, Caleb had made the cellar his haven. The light stung his bloodshot eyes, the heat burnt his icy skin, leaving it to melt and break out into a sweat. Food tasted like ash and water tasted of mud, bore from the ground it came from. He felt and looked like the darkling Chase used to send him months ago.

_Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Scrape. Drip…_

With nothing else to do, he painted. Tubes and pots of acrylic that had long gone bad but never dried up were still stacked in crates beneath the cellar stairs, fresh canvases and old clapboard wood leant against the old burn-pit his father had used to incinerate any waste and heat up the room. He painted in reds and blacks, he made figures with blonde hair and sad moonstone eyes, dark hair and a deep sapphire gaze that pierced his skin with unpleasant tingles and prickles. Shadows and figures of light, birds without wings, sooty bloody snow.

_Drip. Scrape. Drip. Plunk. Drip…_

The powers acted like a smokescreen, hiding him from the truth the whole time.

A mirage. Looks like a flower but stings like a bee. Watch this hand instead of that one. A butterfly effect. Cry wolf too many times.

And it was going to end, one way or the other. It was going to end the moment the Spring sun rises and the snow melts to unveil the life underneath.

He was the bird without the wings.

* * *

**Act VI**

"Baby, you need to go into the light. Your skin is losing all it's colour and your eyes are irritated red." Evelyn cooed, wrapping her wiry arms around her son's head and pulling him down against her breasts. His skin was cold to the bare of her chest, his hair was damp and greasy, his face streaked with dirt and old blood. "You need a shower, too. I wont let them hurt you, my son."

"Why do you protect me." he whispered, eyes closed as he absorbed his mother's warm embrace into the pores of his skin. "I'm the devil. You heard Nathaniel as well as I did." the cellar was directly under the living room, Caleb no doubt enhancing his hearing when he recognised the visitor's voice.

"Nathaniel understands what it means to love one's son, as he has two he holds dear. But just as he loves his son, I love mine. You are a son I can be proud of, and I am."

Caleb pulled away from his mother, the heat coming from her bare arms too intense. The smell of intoxicating alcohol permeated from her breath as she took his face in her tender hands, glassy dark eyes staring straight into his.

"You look so much like your father." she said, smoothing her fingertips over his cheekbones. "So much like William."

His mind shut down when she brought her sticky lips to his, his body falling limp without intention as she grabbed his shoulders in a feeble attempt to bring him closer. She noticed his lack of response and pulled back, glazed eyes searching his.

"William? Don't you love me anymore, Will?"

"Go to sleep, mother." Caleb said mechanically, pulling away from her, feeding her hands back to her lap as she attempted to grab for him while he moved out of her reach. He guided her to lay down on the couch, pulling a blanket off one of the other ones and draping it over her long body. His hand came to rest against her hair, brushing it gently from her face. He placed a tender kiss to the side of her head.

"Don't leave me, William."

"Goodnight, mother." he said quietly, turning to finally leave. She smiled, tucking her face against the armrest of the couch. He barely heard her from the doorway.

"Goodnight, Caleb."

* * *

**Act VII**

"No!" Reid gasped, Tyler rolling off his side just in time before he bolted up from the floor, eyes dancing around wildly as he tried to focus on his surroundings. Eyes the colour of glinting blue gems moved into his line of sight, leaving him to immediately latch on to the young man in front of him. Arms around his lover's waist, face buried into Tyler's stomach, he couldn't help the dry sobs that left his shoulders shaking and throat trembling.

"Reid, baby what's wrong?" Tyler whispered, a hand gently stroking Reid's hair, white-gold threading through alabaster white. "Talk to me, please."

"This can't be happening. This isn't happening. It didn't happen, it couldn't have." Reid whimpered, holding the younger man's waist tighter.

"You're scaring me. What's wrong?" Tyler pleaded, "Talk to me."

"I was five years old! How could that have happened to me!" he cried, trembling more as the seconds wore on. Tyler reluctantly unhooked Reid's arms, hissing between his teeth as the other man dug his nails into his lower back hesitantly at first. Finally he managed to pull Reid up, straddling his lap and sliding his arms around his lover's shoulders.

"What's wrong, baby?"

"I'll kill him. I'll kill him. I'll kill him." Reid whispered, brow resting against Tyler's shoulder. The raven waited until the young man in his arms had stopped trembling, until finally Reid pulled back, moist blue eyes brimming with pain and fear, anger and hurt.

"Tell me what's wrong, Reid." Tyler whispered.

"I'll kill him for making me remember."

"Who?"

"Caleb. I'll kill him."

Tyler bit down the flare of hate flickering in his chest, before finally pulling Reid's lips to his own in a soft kiss, careful not to frighten the blonde any more. "What did he make you remember."

"I cant." Reid cried softly, voice cracking as his eyes welled with tears as he turned to look away. Tyler wouldn't let him, directing the blonde's gaze back to his own. "I can't."

"Yes you can. Tell me what happened when you were five."

Reid ran a hand through his hair, the absolute pain and distress on his face making Tyler's heart ache with the desire to wrap him in protective arms and never let him go. "He made me remember, Ty. I can't forgive him for that."

"What did he make you remember?" Tyler asked again, the gentle kiss of his fingers dusting over Reid's cheek making the other man shiver.

Reid didn't answer straight away, pulling back instead to run a finger along his shoulder, searching for something. Finally he found it, on the top and barely visible a crescent dotted scar marred the skin there. Tyler frowned; it looked like a knife-mark when he concentrated on it. He'd never noticed it before.

"I was five, Ty. I was five when that man took me."

"Took you?" Tyler exclaimed, staring down at the other warlock in concern. "What do you mean?"

"A man came into m-my room. He…he… I was f-five years old. I don't know h-how he got in or-or how I got back, or why I c-couldn't remember afterwards." he cried. "I can't remember who h-he was."

There were so many questions he needed to ask, so many things he wanted to say, but right then and there the only thing he could think to do was press a soft kiss to Reid's temple and hold him tighter. Reid had gone through so much, it was hard to think that the man in his arms was so badly broken on the inside and all these years he hadn't even noticed. Hadn't even known.

He just wanted to hold Reid safe and warm, all he asked was that their love wasn't condemned.

"We'll kill him, Reid. Don't you worry about that, love."

* * *

**Act VIII**

Tarren was staring at her husband blankly as he ate a box of fried rice in silence. He felt her staring and glanced up at her. "What?" he asked, waiting for her reply. She shook her head and continued to read the book nestled in her lap, licking her thumb and turning the page.

He shrugged it off and continued eating. Not moments later did he feel her eyes on him again. Giving in and finally glancing up, the warlock shot his wife an irritated glare.

"_What,_ Tarren?" he snapped. She rolled her eyes at him, shrugging.

"Oh, nothing." she said, "Aren't I allowed to admire my beautiful husband anymore?" she asked, brow raising in question. He sighed, setting the rice on the lounge beside himself, before moving to slide onto the lounge beside his wife. She sighed as his heavy hands came to rest on her shoulders, gently soothing out the tension in her muscles and turning her back to him.

"What are we going to do about our son?" he asked, his wife's lips parting. The raven woman turned to glance over her shoulder at him, before biting her lower lip and glancing down. "What have you thought of?"

"Maybe we should ask the Collins boy for help. He seems to know what he's doing, and he may be able to give us our Tyler back." she insisted, sounding as though she were willing to believe anyone who provided her with the solution to getting her son back safely in her arms.

"And what if he has his own plans and they don't include helping our son? We could be putting him right into the wrong person's hands." Nathaniel tried to reason, blue eyes searching his wife's features.

"I don't trust anyone anymore, Nate. Just our family, and the Garwins. It was Molly who let Tyler get away in the first place, he was probably frightened and had no idea where he was. It was Evelyn's son who did this to our boys, and so far the only one helping us has been Chase."

"We don't know what he wants." he tried to reason. Tarren keened sadly, leaning back against her husband completely, body sagging and melting against him with defeat.

"Then we find out, and we give it to him." she said pleadingly.

"But at what cost, Tarren." he reasoned.

"Whatever will keep our boys safe and alive."

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry for how long it took to update, it took me forever to remember where I had been going with this. You know, the original story was only supposed to be six chapters, and it was supposed to be concise. If I were to estimate the length I'd say possibly another ten chapters, though probably less.

Pogue and Kate weren't in this chapter, unfortunately, but Sarah and Aaron made a small appearance. It's getting difficult to remember who's on what side, and how many sides there are. I know the ending to the story, it's just getting there that's taking forever.

I do hope you lot don't think I've droned on a bit lately and that not much has been happening, but if you pay close attention to what I've written, there are subtle hints and clues that you should remember for the future. The next chapter picks up again, and our boys face another complication that might be the end of them, or might not.

**Cheers,**  
**MK**


	13. XIII: Code Of The Insane

**The Last Heart  
MyurraK**

_**From the Ugliest of Crimes comes the most Beautiful and Deadly of them all**_

**Chapter XIII  
Code of The Insane  
**

**Act I**

Tarren's deep blue eyes flickered open, the dead silence that only came during a deep Winter night. She glanced over the bed coverlets at the sleeping form of her husband and frowned. She knew where his mind was, and although he wanted their son back he wasn't willing to do so at the risk of having to use Chase, the same boy who had destroyed their son in an attempt to save him.

She lifted the coverlets carefully, keeping her eyes on her sleeping husband as she slipped away, treading carefully across the bedroom and wrapping her nightgown over her shoulders. The tie hung loosely around her ankles as she padded swiftly down the stairs, keen ears listening in all directions.

She staggered through the back door, running across the yard and toward the forest. The ice crunched under her bare feet, the cold burn of snow between her toes unnoticed, her neck cracked as she twisted it to glance over her shoulder, watching the bedroom window as she ran out into the inky darkness.

She ran until her lungs burned from the temperature of the air, her legs quivered and her teeth chattered as she finally stopped, toeing the ground until she managed to find a relatively dry place by standing on a buttress root that barely protruded from the snow.

A breeze rustled through the branches of the trees, littering the last of the autumn leaves and bits of snow. They whorled like miniature cyclones, and Tarren bit her lower lip from the chill that went up her spine.

"Chase." she said quietly. When nothing happened, she cleared her throat and held her shoulders back confidently, forcing her trembling away. "Chase!"

"Yes, Aunty T?" it came from the side, Tarren whipping her head around to face the oldest of the new generation standing before her. "What can I do for you?" the arrogant boy asked, pale blue eyes staring at her and into her. She felt as though she'd lost her balance.

"My son's alive. Where is he." she demanded.

Chase tsk'd. "Oh, poor Tarren. Hasn't anyone told you? Tyler's been dead for over a month." Chase replied, the smirk on his lips betraying his grave tone of voice. Tarren grit her teeth.

"Don't play games with me, Collins. You know where he is and you're going to tell me."

"I have no idea what you're on about. Your son is dead, it's time you talked to someone about these delusions of yours. I mean, there is absolutely no chance that he's been hiding out in the forest this whole time with Reid; don't be silly Tarren."

She almost growled at the young man, fingers knitting into her nightgown as she held back a shiver. "Alright, you know where he is and you obviously aren't going to tell me."

"Nope."

"So I'll need a favour instead." she said gravely.

"And what makes you think I'll do you another favour, woman?" Chase snapped suddenly, glaring at the shivering woman. "The last favour has inevitably cost many people their lives. What more do you want?"

"I want my boy back. I want him back, I want him safe, and I want him back the way he was." Chase smirked then, stepping closer to her and taking his hands out of his jacket pockets. He cupped both of Tarren's hands before her body.

"If I do what you ask of me, there is only one way I can promise _all _those things." he said. She stared at him with large hopeful eyes, and he continued. "Tyler mustn't be with Reid. Tyler will never come back to you let alone be safe if he continues to love Reid. So if I give you your son, _you're _the one who is guilty of taking away his love."

Tarren's eyes switched between each of Chase's, searching for the lie that wasn't to be found.

Back at the house, Nathaniel woke, searching around for his wife who was no longer beside him. His eyes turned over every detail of the room in his mind, but the only thing that seemed out of place was the absence of the woman who had been in bed right next to him.

Chase brought the back of Tarren's hand to his lips, pressing a hard kiss to the skin. Tarren felt the skin begin to sear and burn, the woman biting back a scream of pain and simply staring at the young man before her.

Finally, he pulled his lips from her hand, leaving a smooth burn scar in their wake. "Very well." he murmured, her hand slipping from his fingers as he disappeared like a mist of black wispy fog.

Nathaniel caught sight of his wife staggering slowly through the trees, eyes dazed and steps uncoordinated, hair rugged with flyaway strands and damp tangles. She stepped through the forest line, bare feet purple and blue from crunching through the snow. The bottom and the ties to her dressing gown was damp and dirty.

"Tarren!" he called, bringing his arms around his wife's shoulders. "Are you alright? What happened?"

"…sleepwalking." she said. "I'm really tired." her voice was vague and husky, Nathaniel's concern not even slightly diminished. But from the darkness around her eyes and the sallowness of her skin, he could tell she wasn't lying.

He didn't believe she was telling the truth, either.

* * *

**Act II**

Caleb's arms were crossed over his chest, his legs crossed at the ankles, as he stood in the doorway, shoulder barely brushing the frame as he watched his mother kicking back drink after drink while she draped herself across the leather armchair she was so fond of. The housekeeper in the kitchen dropped a large metal pot and he barely spared a glance in her direction before his mother managed to gain his attention.

"Oh god, my head." she complained because of the noise. "Caleb, sweety, could you go get me some painkillers?" she said softly. Caleb nodded to his mother though she wasn't looking at him and turned into the kitchen. The new housekeeper, a young dark-haired woman who'd only been there just under a month and a half, gave him a wary look as he passed, their eyes meeting.

She looked familiar.

She scurried out, calling out to Evelyn that she was going home now.

Caleb continued to glance up at his mother as he riffled through the packets in the kitchen, finding the one he was looking for and popped two blue hard-cased capsules out of the foil and onto the counter, pressing down on them with his palm to stop them from bouncing all over the place.

"Caleb, hurry up!" she called, Caleb picking them up with his thumb and forefinger as he closed the overhead cupboards with the other hand. He didn't speak as he shuffled back into the living room, placing the two pills on the glass-topped coffee table. They rolled around, one bumping into the other, as he took a seat on the couch beside the armchair.

He stared blankly at her, elbows on his knees, expressionless eyes barely blinking. She scooped the pills into her hand, eyeing them curiously and hesitating putting them in her mouth. "What are these?" she asked, poking one with her long nail.

"A new brand." he said simply, Evelyn watching her son cautiously as he continued to stare motionlessly at her. Her hand shook and lowered.

_Ding-Ding-Dong._

Someone was at the front door. She took a sharp startled breath and nodded toward her son. "Go downstairs." she said quickly, hand clenching around the pills. As soon as he was out of sight, she turned and dropped them in a vase full of flowers, clunking on the bottom of the vase as they sunk through the water.

She dusted herself off, ignored her pounding headache, and went straight to the front door. "Yes?" she called through it.

"Delivery for a Mister Caleb Danvers. Does he live here?"

She sighed to herself, blinking away the image of the two shiny blue pills and unlocking the front door.

* * *

**Act III**_  
The Day Before_

Pogue dusted his hands off as he exited the Post Office, the door dinging as it shut behind him. Satisfied that the package would reach Caleb by the next morning at least, and that he'd have plenty of time with Kate before then, he sought her out. She was right where he'd left her, leaning back against a lamp post, dark hand resting over the belly of her jacket, scarf wrapped thick like a doughnut around her neck, tipping over her chin and brushing her lower berry-dark lip.

Her night-black hair hung over her shoulders, flicking into her eyes as she tried to turn and look at him only to have the wind blow it in her face. She pulled a few strands out of her mouth as she made her way to him hastily, careful of the slippery pavement. She always had a hand settled in a maternally-conscious way over her stomach, which had only just begun to considerably show, since Caleb had tried to kill the baby that had barely begun to form.

She was glowing when she looked at him, but now he could feel the worry and nervousness rolling over her like ocean waves. He hooked his arm with hers as they met on the path halfway, both veering off to the side to cross the unpopulated street.

"Are you sure about this? Is it even the right thing to do?" she asks, glancing sadly up at him. He knows how hard it must be for her to say that, considering it was Reid she'd constantly been concerned with since the fight, but she was scared and he knew it.

"Reid is probably dead by now." he said suddenly, "Tyler's long gone. Caleb and I are the only ones, and I wont wait around while my child grows up constantly in fear that he's going to come after us."

"So you'd rather leave me to have our child and raise him on my own?" she snapped, ripping her arm away from his right in the middle of crossing the street. Pogue brushed the hair away from his eyes, before reaching out to tenderly touch her shoulders. He didn't miss how her other hand came up to guard her stomach with the first, or how her eyes glazed untrustingly. He distantly wondered if all natural-born mothers acted like this when they were with child.

"Kate," he started, "I'm not strong enough to fight him. I'm not an idiot, and I wont let things get out of hand. I just want to make it clear that I don't want anything to do with him."

"Like you didn't want anything to do with him when you were fucking him?" she said coldly, and he cringed. "Is that why you don't want me to come? You don't want me or your son, so you're going back to him and leaving me here alone?"

"I didn't know what I was doing. I wasn't thinking, Kate, and I'll never be able to say sorry too many times. Please, don't bring it up again." he pleaded. They fell silent, breaths visible as white clouds of steam in the air. Eventually Kate's eyes softened and her hands lowered from her stomach.

Pogue leaned down and kissed her, losing himself when she kissed him back.

They were broken apart by a car horn, a rusty pickup idling impatiently a few feet away from them on the road. Realising they were still in the centre of the road, they moved out of the way and let the impatient man pass.

That night Pogue sat on the end of their bed, watching as the young woman slept soundly, eyelids fluttering restlessly and hand subconsciously trying to pull the covers up under her chin. Finally, after watching her for too long without her waking up, he slid off the end of the bed, placing a single handwritten note on the bedside table just below the lamp switch.

_Kate,_

_If I'm not back within two days go to my parents. They'll take care of you.__  
When I make it back, even if it's after two days, we're getting married. On the first day of spring.  
__I'll never leave you, Kate.  
I love you.. _

_Pogue.

* * *

_

**Act IV**_  
Present Time_

Caleb's finger slipped between the seal and the envelope, tearing it open. Tipping the package into the palm of his hand, he stared down at it cautiously, unsure as to what it was at first. It took him a moment to realise it was a video tape from an old-fashioned camcorder.

His mother, who had fallen asleep and was snoring quietly from her place curled up on the armchair, was totally oblivious as he moved over to the television set. There was an old video player, which he slid the tape into.

There was a moment of static before the screen filled with an image. Tyler's thirteenth birthday, he remembered it well.

By then he, Reid and Pogue had already ascended to the first stage, the three of them just waiting for Tyler to follow before things went back to normal. Everyone in the four families was there, and after looking closely he could vaguely recognize Doctor Gestion in the background talking with Tarren Simms. Funny, when beside one another the two looked like brother and si-

Oh. They _were_ brother and sister. That would explain a lot.

The frame finally focussed onto Tyler, who was poking his tongue out at someone off screen. _'Oh, very mature Ty.'_ the voice came out. Caleb was startled to realise it was his own.

'_Hey!'_ Tyler cried out _'I'm not technically grown up until nine-forty-two tonight.'_ he retorted. Pogue, apparently the boy Tyler had been poking his tongue out at, dropped into the picture with an arm around Tyler.

'_That's right! He's gonna be one of us in less than six hours! Fi-na-lly!' _Tyler quirked a brow at Pogue, shoving the older boy off.

'_Hey, don't cuddle up just yet. I'm still mad at all three of you for ditching me these last three months.'_ Reid suddenly appeared from behind Tyler, leaning over and kissing the youngest boy's cheek. Caleb heard his own laugh through the screen as Tyler batted the blonde boy away. _'What did I say about the cuddling!'_

'_We're sorry.'_ Caleb heard himself say. _'But we couldn't have you doing what the big boys were doing without bein' able to keep up, baby boy.'_ the raven flushed and glanced down.

'_I hate you Reid!' _he mumbled. _'I can't believe that fucking name stuck!'_

'_Tyler! Language!'_ Lillian Garwin shouted from off camera, beside Tarren and the Doctor when the camera veered up to focus on them.

'_Sorry ma!'_ Tyler called out teasingly, the four of them breaking out into giggles, the camera shaking slightly. _'So,'_ Tyler began when they'd all calmed down. _'You three aren't gonna keep ignoring me once this is all over?'_ he asked. He sounded slightly unsure, his light blue eyes staring widely at them all.

'_Of course not, Baby boy.'_ Caleb heard himself say, and Tyler smiled.

'_I love you guys, you know that?'_ he said suddenly, Reid and Pogue making small 'aw' noises at each other. He vaguely heard Pogue murmuring how adorable Tyler was.

'_So does this mean we can cuddle up and ask for forgiveness now?'_ Caleb heard himself asking, Tyler poking his tongue out and crossing his arms over his chest in retort to the teasing. The screen went black to the sound of their laughing, before it switched scenes.

Tyler was laying completely still on a bed, presumably the one he slept in at the Simms manor, while Reid was kneeling beside him on the floor. His chin was resting on his forearm, his other hand tracing gentle patterns over the back of the youngest boy's hand as he spoke. The other person was Caleb himself, chin resting on the bed-head as he leaned over it, watching Tyler intently.

Pogue, presumably the one who was operating the camera, spoke just as Caleb watched himself brushing the hair from Tyler's forehead. _'How is he?'_ he asked, Reid barely moving his head and holding his forefinger to his lips.

'_Shh, he's resting.'_ Reid said, smiling reassuringly at the camera. Caleb looked up, all concern and big-brother eyes.

'_Should you be taping this, Po?'_ he asked, raising a brow at the camera. Tyler murmured something, Reid leaning over to try and hear.

'_He's tired. Let's leave him alone.'_ Reid said, resting his forehead against Tyler's for a moment before standing and walking out. He barely gave Pogue or the camera a glance as he left. Caleb moved to rest the palm of his hand on Tyler's face, smiling down at him.

'_I'm proud of you, li'l brother.'_ he said quietly, following Reid's example.

'_Sweet dreams, Ty.'_ Pogue called out.

The video switched scenes again, this time it was once again being held by Pogue, the timer in the corner showing it was only about two minutes after the last scene. Reid was sitting on the couch, hands in his hair and elbows on his knees, Caleb sitting beside him with a hand on his back.

In the background, which viewed straight into the brightly lit kitchen, their parents were sitting or standing around the table murmuring quietly and passing mugs of coffee around. It took a moment for Caleb to remember that Reid had been crying.

'_Reid? You alright, bud?'_ Pogue asked, camera lowering as though he was considering turning it off. Reid glanced up at the older boy, scowling through his tears. The scowl fell from his face and he looked down again, shoulders shaking.

'_He just scared me, guys.'_ he admitted quietly. Caleb watched as he gave Pogue a reprimanding look for continuing with the filming, but turned his attention back to Reid.

'_I'll say. I don't think we copped it as rough as he did.'_ Pogue said, Caleb nodding.

'_What happened, Reid? You were closest.'_ Reid choked, a wrangled sound that barely resembled laughter.

'_He just stopped breathing; his eyes were open and staring up at me, but I'm telling you he was dead.'_ they fell silent, Caleb's hand gently rubbing Reid's back in an attempt to comfort him. Nathaniel Simms came into the room followed by Molly Parry. Nathaniel took a blanket off the armchair and draped it over Reid's shoulders, Molly handing him a mug of coffee. She turned to look at her son, sighing.

'_Honey, put it away.'_

The scene switched, video jumping a few times before finally focussing. It was him and Tyler, his arm over the slightly shorter boy's shoulders as he lead him along too far away to hear what he was saying. Caleb remembered they'd been talking about learning how to use their powers properly and how it would take a little while before he got the hang of them.

They were out the back of Pogue's place, taking a short break from helping Pogue's father, Giles Parry, re-build the back porch. Reid had been oddly quiet all day, but seemed himself nonetheless. He was apparently the one filming, because he turned around to watch Pogue measuring out a plank of wood.

It had been two days since Tyler's birthday, and the Spring was just starting to warm up some more. He could vaguely hear their conversation as they approached, Tyler talking about wanting to go to the ocean. _'The Dells is just a heap of sand at the top of a cliff, the only ocean around here is over Marblehead and I'm not allowed to go there.'_ he said.

'_We should sneak out some time, then.'_ Caleb heard his voice murmur, Reid turning the camera on them again. _'I mean, there's nothing too fascinating about it. It's just heaps and heaps of water.'_

'_No, the ocean's more than that.'_ Reid spoke. _'When we're older, we're all gonna go some place warm, learn how to scuba dive or snorkel. Somewhere like Hawaii or Fiji.'_

'_Or Australia. The Great Barrier Reef's so big you can see it from space.'_ Caleb piped in.

'_No way, man. Sharks, Sea snakes, Box Jellyfish and Saltwater Crocodiles all over the place. That country's full of lethal shit, man. Even the shells fight back, poisonous enough to kill.'_ Pogue added from off screen. Reid laughed quietly, calling Pogue a pussy and handing the camera to Caleb who took it carefully.

'_I'm getting some drinks. Ty, come help me out?'_ he asked, the younger boy nodding and falling into step with his best friend. The door closed behind them and the camera turned away. It had only been for a second, but Caleb could have sworn he seen Tyler and Reid's hands grab hold of one another's.

This time, when the scene changed, it was almost a month later. They were out the front of the Parry manor, sprinklers all over the yard were turned on full jet. There was the sound of laughing, and he could see Reid and Tyler playing a game of tag through the mist. He watched as he and Pogue ran in, Pogue tugging insistently on a hose as he tried to get it to reach his friends.

Suddenly the water all turned off, and William Danvers, who's hair was already a pale grey, came from the side of the house, saying that it was time for food. It was presumably Molly who had been filming because Caleb could hear her muttering about old men and their lack of a penchant for fun.

Tyler tripped Pogue as they made their way back, the longer-haired brunette giving chase once he managed to get himself off the ground. Molly's laughter run through the television speakers, joking about the supposedly shy Simms boy, who had taken off around the side of the house with the older boy barely a couple of metres behind him.

William's hands settled on both his son's and Reid's shoulders, guiding the other two boys beside him as they followed Tyler and Pogue. Molly made a comment about William's uncharacteristic soft-spot for Reid and his own son before she followed them with the camera, beside her Lillian and Tarren carefully toed their way through the muddy slippery grass.

As it came onto the back, several large tables covered with food and napkins. Caleb remembered now; they'd been celebrating the June Solstice. They sat around the table, until finally William exclaimed that it was the minute of Solstice, one twenty-four exactly, and to start eating. Reid and Caleb were sitting either side of him, with Tyler bouncing in his chair beside Reid as they began to eat, chatting animatedly about how he could feel power of the solstice in his skin. Reid hadn't even noticed William's hand come to rest on his arm, totally absorbed in what Tyler was saying.

Molly mentioned how adorable it was that the little demon of the four sons cared so deeply for Tyler. Caleb watched himself talking to Pogue, waving a bread roll around, shivering slightly from the chill of being soaking wet. Pogue, Tyler and Reid were just as soaked as he was, all four of them suddenly turning to meet one another's eyes at the same time by accident and laughing at the co-incidence.

'_They're going to be best friends for the rest of their lives.'_ Molly commented, Lillian and Tarren murmuring an agreement with the overzealous woman that barely resembled Pogue's mother.

Caleb sat stonily still, listening to the buzzing of the VCR as it no longer read anything left of the tape, staring at the black screen for several minutes before finally grabbing the yellow envelope the tape had come in. Molly's words continued to ring around in his head as he took the note out. _They're going to be best friends for the rest of their lives._

The note was from Pogue.

_You've won, Caleb. _

_I want to sort this out without fighting.  
Kate and I are going to start a life together,  
we're going to get away from Ipswich and away from you.  
I want to know, personally, that you will leave well enough alone,  
I want to know Kate and my son are in no way going to be in danger.  
I will come to you soon, _

_Pogue.

* * *

_

**Act V**

"We missed Christmas." Tyler said absently, staring up at the small amount of light peaking through the mostly boarded-up window. Reid glanced up, looking back down and checking his wrists in case he had a watch. "It's New-Years tomorrow." Tyler murmured only moments after he gathered he didn't have one, answering his question. "That means we've been here over a month."

"How are we not already crazy." Reid muttered, but Tyler could see the fear in his eyes and turned his sad gaze on the blonde man. Reid swallowed. "I mean, hey, I've been locked in here with you for so long. I'm sure I'll start seeing things soon." he said lightly, but Tyler didn't stop staring at him sadly.

"Reid, it's alright to be scared." he said carefully. Reid frowned and turned away.

"I'm not scared." he insisted, Tyler moving from the far wall to sit beside him, leaning his chin on the blonde's shoulder. "I'm not."

"You're scared, and it's okay." Tyler continued. "You've got three days, perhaps we should escape now so that we don't give away that we're alive when you ascend." Reid turned to Tyler in consideration, nodding silently.

"Yeah, we should probably leave tomorrow then." he admitted, closing his eyes and tipping his head to press a kiss to Tyler's cheek. "We'll get some rest tonight, see if we can find some food in the morning then head out during the evening when it's dark."

"Yeah, good idea." Tyler said, leaning back and picking up a stick from the fire, poking it around and jostling the flames, sending smoke upward through a hole they'd made in the roof. Sometimes they worried it would give them away, but people still lived remotely in the forest all over the mountain, and all those houses had chimneys that worked and cars with snow-ploughs on the front. The kind of people who didn't like to be bothered.

"You know what else we missed?" Reid pointed out. "The end of the school semester." being in a private school, the semesters operated a little differently. The big break was during the summer, the end of the school year. Technically, they weren't out of Senior year until June, which was different to most of the schools elsewhere from the public Ipswich school and on.

"I think that we're entitled." Tyler murmured. "Or at least, I am. I'm dead, remember?" he teased, although Reid didn't find the joke that funny. Tyler noticed the solemn expression on his face and fell silent, the two competing in a goalless staring match. Finally, Tyler said "What do you remember?"

Reid looked away, inevitably loosing the staring match and giving in. "Not much. It's still really hazy, like when a spell's still bein' lifted." he mumbled, "All I know is that I'm going to kill Caleb for making me remember at all."

"You don't want to know what happened to you?" Tyler asked, brows raised and eyes rounded with concern. Reid just looked up, shaking his head and looking down.

"More than once." he mumbled. "It happened more than once, he'd come into my room and sometimes he'd take me away, other times he wouldn't. And though I'd never remember him, he'd say all this…really creepy stuff. I-I don't even know, man." he keened, punching the floorboards beneath him.

Tyler tentatively brushed his fingertips over Reid's shoulder, "I'm sorry."

"Nah, 's alright. 'M fine." the blonde warlock reassured, the space between he and Tyler lapsing into silence. Tyler picked at a hole in the sleeve of his shirt, dark blue eyes sliding over everything in the room before settling on Reid again minutes later. Unsure of what to say, he remained silent.

They fell asleep with less than a centimetre between them. To Tyler, that small gap was enough to keep him up all night shivering from the cold and watching Reid sleep with his back to him.

* * *

**Act VI**

Evelyn was talking to the housekeeper in the kitchen, badgering the poor girl about not having gone out to get more alcohol like she'd supposedly been asked to. Caleb was flicking through one of his father's art books, sketches drawn in pencil, ballpoint pen and charcoal. He glanced up when he heard his mother shout something particularly nasty to the girl, grabbing her by the hair.

The girl was crying and screaming as Evelyn called her a slut and threatened her; the girl probably thought that the woman would be kinder to her when sober. Caleb knew better.

He fished around in his pocket until he came across one of the blue capsules, breaking it open and dropping the powder in the bottom of his mother's empty glass. The powder was white, the granules clumping together as they absorbed the last few drops of tequila left in the bottom of the glass.

After he was certain there was no powder left in the capsule, he dropped the two halves of blue plastic casing in his pocket, watching his mother with dark eyes, not even looking at the drawings as he turned past several pages of his father's sketchbook, smiling hollowly as the woman sat down in the armchair.

She fished around for the half-empty bottle of whisky, pouring it into the glass with half-closed eyes, pulling a piece of the housekeeper girl's raven hair from her finger absently as she reached for the glass.

Eyes closed, Evelyn tipped it back and swallowed, Caleb watching as the powder slid down with the liquor like sediment. The woman coughed several times, Caleb turning his eyes to the vase of flowers on the lamp table, their petals withered and brown, _dying-dying-dead_. They'd been picked yesterday.

He thoughtfully watched the young housekeeper scurrying around in the kitchen, trying to clean up. She _was _familiar.

* * *

**Act VII**

Kate rubbed her itching red eyes, ignoring her reflection in the bathroom mirror and leaning over the tub, long fingers dropping the plug in, leaving it to be carried down the other end when she turned the water on. The water was so hot it turned white, steam almost instantly fogging up the mirror. She was happy it did.

She didn't want to see her bloodshot eyes, or her inflamed face. She wanted to have a bath, and she wanted to relax.

Slowly, she stripped out of her clothes. They were new, having been bought only a couple of days prior, and were still stiff. They hit the tiled ground of the bathroom with an almost silent patter, draping the scarf over the end of the basin, she turned the hot water off and started flooding the tub with cold water instead.

Edging her way in once it was at a comfortable temperature, she played with the taps turning the heat on and off with her toes, sinking down into the water and staring up at the ceiling. Her hair swarmed around her shoulders like a Chinese fan, her slight 'baby-bump' barely skimming the surface of the water. She remembered the excruciating pain when Caleb had tried to kill her baby, and shuddered, rubbing self-comforting circles over her belly.

"Don't worry, Daddy will come back. He has to come back." she said quietly. As though she'd been waiting for a reply and was disappointed at not getting one, she sighed, gave a single glance to the closed bathroom door, and shut her eyes, sliding down under the water.

She felt bubbles of air crawling over her skin, the weight of water attempting to press down on her and keeping her under on the bottom while also trying to pull her up to float on the surface. Vaguely she remembered learning that one cubic metre of water weighed a tonne, but was at a loss as to why she remembered it.

Her hair tickled her face as it brushed over her, and soon enough she needed to breathe again, the dull slow pounding in her ears too loud and the burn of chlorine in her eyes too strong. Lifting her body from the bottom of the tub, she suddenly found she was unable to move. Her eyes opened, the rippling figure of a dark-haired pale skinned man leaning over her.

_Caleb!_ she screamed in her mind. _Oh no!_

She kicked up, the hot metal of the tap clipping the side of her foot, and she tried to bat her hands out, maybe to grab the edges of the tub and hoist herself up, but her hands were pinned down under the water. The bathwater was sloshing over the sides, her skin squeaked against the internal sides of the bath as she thrashed, and suddenly she managed to get her head above the water. She took a deep breath, managing to catch a glimpse of her attacker and screaming as she was forced back under.

It wasn't Caleb. It was worse, whatever it was. It's eyes were rolled into the back of it's head, dark hair stuck up in awkward angles. It's sheet-white skin was lined with blue and purple veins, and it's mouth was stuck together like it's lips had melted. She'd seen the drawings, she'd heard the stories.

It couldn't be a darkling, could it?

She brought her knee into the side of the creature's head, scrambling her arms up over the sides and pulling herself up above the surface, gasping for breath. Her eyes widened as the thing turned into an all too familiar face before her eyes. The veins disappeared, the skin filled out in colour, and the eyes rolled back into place. The sticky melted flesh of it's lips faded into dark chapped lips.

He grinned at her, teeth and sapphire eyes gleaming under the bathroom's fluorescent lights. He lurched at her, holding her under by the throat. Kate barely seen the gleam of a knife in his other hand. The blade barely touched the skin under her ribs, angled to make a single clean swipe down her stomach, before she rolled her hips away.

She coughed up water as her head slid up once again. "Hold still!" he shouted, ignoring her prying desperate hands trying to remove his from her throat, taking the knife handle in his hand tighter and reaching out, this time the blade made a small nick on her naval. She screamed hoarsely, shaking her head and kicking her legs up again. This time, when she kneed him in the head he let her go, smacking against the side of the bathtub.

She cringed at the crunching sound she heard, barely giving her naked self a thought of dignity before she scrambled up over the edge of the tub. She was about to run out of the bathroom, lock him in and escape, but the water that glittered innocently on the floor was far from just that. Her feet disappeared from underneath her, her hands automatically went to shield her stomach in the fall, her chin knocking on the tiles, teeth sinking into her lip.

She groaned, stars glistening in front of her eyes as she rolled onto her back. Suddenly, he was kneeling over her, blood from his broken nose dribbling down and splattering in her face -_Drip, Drip, Drip-_ and then nothing. She thinks he may have punched her, or maybe she passed out from fright or lack of oxygen, but all she knows is that those stars disappeared and she was left with a blank night sky draped over her vision.

All she remembers was Tyler's face staring down at her, eyes darker and hair longer than she remembers, nose bleeding from a split on the bridge where he'd hit the edge of the tub. "Tyler…" she said quietly, "…you're dead."

"Not dead enough, baby." Tyler rubbed his knuckles, eyeing the graze on Kate's cheek as her eyes finally shut. He moved away from her, grabbing a white towel and covering her body with it from her breasts to halfway down her thighs. She deserved that small comfort, that small sense of decency.

He grabbed the knife from the tiled floor, toying with it for a moment. Looking over her, his eyes settled on the rise in the flesh of her stomach, though it was only slight it was enough. She really was pregnant with the next son of the Parry generation. He considered the knife, before placing it on the ground.

"You're lucky I've always liked you, Kate." he muttered to himself, watching her as she remained unconscious on the cold wet tiles of the bathroom.

* * *

**Act VIII**

Reid lamented the loss of his grip on sleep, stretching his arms out over his head and opening his eyes when he couldn't feel the warmth of his lover beside him. Blinking rapidly, clearing away the fog from his vision, he was finally able to see that no, Tyler wasn't next to him, and no, Tyler wasn't anywhere else either.

If Tyler wasn't there, where was he?

Sitting up a bit too quickly, head spinning and skin trembling from the cold, Reid hastily fixed his clothes and slipped his shoes on. Standing up, he glanced around, noticing that one of the boarded windows, the one they used to enter and exit the Colony house, was slightly open. There was small pile of melting flakes of snow on the floorboards, the only explanation that Tyler was outside.

It wasn't until Reid was standing on the piled up scraps of wood and timber, using his elbow to knock the board out of the way, that he realised how hard and fast his heart was racing. Sure, Tyler could have just been going to relieve himself, or maybe he'd even just gone for a walk, but it was that small niggling voice of doubt in Reid's head that told him otherwise.

Dragging himself through the small space the empty window-frame provided was one thing, but trying to compromise searching the snow and walking on it at the same time proved to be harder than he'd thought.

At first, he'd been trying to seek out any tracks Tyler may have made, before remembering that Tyler would have been using if he'd gone outside. By that time he was at least ten or so minutes away from the Colony house, and almost got lost himself.

The panic was starting to get worse, the anxiety was beginning to grow. What if Tyler had left him? What if something had happened to Tyler? Would he ever know?

After realising that there was no way of knowing where Tyler was, Reid found himself wandering further and further away from the Colony house. He desperately needed to find the other. If he couldn't find Tyler, he didn't know what he'd do with himself. The darkening sky tormented him.

With the fear of what had happened to his missing love the only thing pushing him, Reid continued into the endless white of Winter.

* * *

**Act IX**

Evelyn groaned, rubbing her temples. She watched as her son spoke in hushed tones to the housekeeper, who's pretty face now sported four parallel lines, thin and red like the claws of a cat. Evelyn wrinkled her nose in distaste when her son's fist struck the counter of the kitchen bench, making their dinner plates rattle.

The girl 'eeped' and turned around to finish serving their food. Caleb met his mother's eyes, turning around to face their dinner when she buried the tips of her fingers into her temples.

She felt like a nail was slowly being hammered into the base of her skull, each tap knocking her brain around just that slight bit more. She needed to cut back on the alcohol.

Caleb came into the room, his words about dinner being ready falling over her head like someone had dumped a bucket of lukewarm water over her. She staggered on the first two steps, but managed to maintain her dignity and strut into the kitchen, pointedly ignoring the girl who instantly put more space between herself and the woman. Caleb took a seat directly across from his mother, the mahogany table cold under his elbows so he leaned back and sat straight.

The housekeeper dropped their plates in front of them, staying to finish cleaning up the utensils. It was some foreign dish that vaguely resembled a casserole, Evelyn picking up her fork and pushing it around. She kept her eyes on her son as she scooped up a forkful, placing it in her mouth.

It wasn't half bad, so she kept eating. Another and another. Suddenly, something powdery and disgusting settled on her tongue. At first she thought it may have just been a clump of flour, but it tasted foul. Carefully, she spat it on the fork, a small white pill sitting innocently on one of the prongs.

That little bitch tried to poison her!

Without a second thought, she grabbed the knife, waiting for the girl to turn around before she plunged it in the girl's stomach. Caleb chewed slowly, eyes staring directly at his mother as she screamed suddenly at the blood on her hands, the girl collapsing into a heap on the cold tiled ground. The young raven girl gurgled, teary eyes staring up at her. Blood dribbled over her lower lip, hand reaching up at the woman, who toppled off her chair and backed up against the wall.

What had she been thinking!

She turned her wide beseeching eyes to her son, who took another mouthful of the food before pushing his chair back. He made his way around the table, kneeling down beside her and running his fingers lightly over her brow.

"I'm sorry, cousin." he said quietly. Evelyn frowned, watching silently through the terror of what she'd just done as her son reached into the girl's jean pocket, pulling out a wallet. Glancing over her son's shoulder, she read the name.

"She told us her name was Susan Willis." the woman said almost angrily. Where was all this anger coming from?

"She is Tyler's first cousin once removed, Isadora McQueen. Her mother, Rita, is Tyler's cousin, Doctor Gestion's daughter. Doctor Gestion became Tyler's doctor around about the time she started working here; she was spying on us no doubt." he said, the girl gasping and trying to grab Caleb's hand. He let her weakly hold it, pulling the knife out of her stomach.

Evelyn covered her mouth with her bloodied hand, her other arm crossing over her own stomach as she cringed away. "What have I done?" she asked herself.

"I didn't think you'd kill her, I only meant for you to get rid of her without raising suspicions we knew what they were doing."

"What does this all mean?" she asked him.

"It means that our family doctor has been conspiring against us. I'll never be safe if they know where I am, mother. In the end this was probably the only right answer, anyway." Evelyn fell back against the wall, watching as her son closed the now dead girl's eyes with his other hand, before gently pulling his other one out of her grip.

"What did you do to me?" she asked, Caleb glancing up at her. He looked down at the girl, before staring up at her. He considered his answer before finally replying.

"It's all you, mother. You've had too much to drink, you should go lay down and I'll clean this mess up." he replied. Evelyn watched her son through eyes that didn't quite believe what they were seeing. Had Caleb poisoned her instead? Or was it really all her?

When she finally left, it was in silence. Caleb didn't even notice until he turned around.

Staring out the doorway, he took the box of white pills out of his pocket, staring at the warning. _Caution: taking too many painkillers is classified as an overdose. Stomach pumping may be needed._ Dropping the painkillers he'd used to trick his mother in the bin, he left the kitchen to find something to wrap the girl's body in.

* * *

**Act X**

Pogue stood just down the driveway to the Parry manor, he could barely see his parents arguing. His mother seemed distressed about something, and if Pogue closed his eyes and listened carefully he could vaguely hear what they were saying.

"_What are we doing, Giles?"_

"_All we can, honey."_

"_You really think that? You really think we're doing all we can? Our son is missing, his girlfriend is missing, not to mention she's pregnant! And why the fuck isn't anyone else trying to find Reid and-"_

He was cut off from listening as the phone in his coat pocket vibrated. He jumped, unable to hear the rest, taking out his phone and holding it up to his ear.

"Yeah, it's Pogue. Talk."

"…_Po." _the man said, and Pogue suddenly felt his heart stall. His blood curdled in his veins, and he took a shaky breath, mouth opening and closing as he found himself falling short for words. _"You might want to answer me 'cause this is important."_

"Tyler? Is that you, man?" he exclaimed, plugging his other ear just in case he was hearing wrong.

"_You've probably never been more right in your life, my friend."_

"But you're dead!"

"_Why does everyone say that? It's a little insulting." _Tyler said, _"Now I want you to listen closely. I'm not dead, I've been alive the whole time. It's all been one big lie to hide all the truths. Your parents knew, in fact that lovely mother of yours was the first to see me wake up. Poor old biddy fainted."  
_

"Ty, give me a minute. Stop speaking so much, I'm trying to wrap my head around the fact that you're alive."

"_Well, you might want to hurry up with that, because I'm pretty sure this is more important than you believing me at the moment."_

"What's more important than believing you're alive?"

"_Kate's life." _Tyler said finally. Pogue was about to ask if she was in trouble when Tyler cut him off. _"She's right here with me, but I gotta tell you, this knife at her throat isn't doing anything for her chances." _he said.

"You son of a bitch, you're not Tyler! What kind of sick joke is this!"

"_No joke, this is all real. This is really me."_

"Then you're lying about Kate."

"_Why would I lie to you about that? Say hello, baby girl." _the phone rustled, there was a female mumbling and groaning. Finally, it appeared a gag was removed and to the mortification of his already fearful heart, the dread he felt at hearing Kate's voice made tears burn the rims of his eyes.

"_Pogue!" _she cried out. _"Tyler's lost it, he's gone insane! He tried to cut me open while I was in the bath! Please, you have t-mmph!" _she was cut off, no doubt the gag had been stuffed back in.

"_Can't have her giving away all the juicy details before you get here, can I?" _he asked, chuckling. Pogue felt his hand gripping the phone too tightly, loosening his grip before he unwittingly broke it.

"I swear, if you so much as-"

"_Oh Pogue, stop being so cliché. And don't make me angry, either. I wont hurt her, but I need you to calm down or else I might lose my temper, and this blade might just slip."_

Pogue took an eternity of silence to speak again, biting his lower lip and swallowing any harsh comments. This couldn't be Tyler, but it sounded like him and Kate had confirmed it. Right now, all he wanted was to make sure Kate would be alright.

"...What do you want me to do."

* * *

**A/N:** Earth To Readers! Please Review, even if you don't have much to say, I really appreciate it.

Well, this is the next chapter. As you can see a lot happened to make up for the lack of action in the last chapter or two. Struggling to keep up yet?

Major hints dropped in this chapter, and feel free to ask questions if anything has you confused or if you think it needs more explaining.

There were supposed to be two more Acts to this chapter, but I cut them and placed them at the beginning of the next one to get me going again to make up for how slack I've been with updating lately.

As I said, feel free to ask questions, and please review!

**Cheers,**  
**MK**


	14. XIV: Angelic Tendencies

**The Last Heart  
MyurraK**

_**From the Ugliest of Crimes comes the most Beautiful and Deadly of them all**_

**Chapter XIV  
Angelic Tendencies**

**Act I**

Kate couldn't tell if she was shivering, trembling or both. Each time her shoulders shuddered, her muffled sobs and her breaths did the same. She could feel a sting on her cheek whenever a tear rolled over it. She could feel the cold nipping at her bare skin; he'd only given her long enough to throw a singlet and undergarments on. Her hair was wet and dripping down her back, her skin was clammy and covered in goose flesh.

Tyler was sitting on the end of the hotel bed, leaning down and digging the end of the knife into the floorboards, twisting the handle and screwing the blade down deeper. He glanced up at her, dark blue eyes staring straight through her. He grinned, that perfect Babyboy smile she'd grown so fond of, only there was a sort of malice about it that sent a shudder down her spine.

"Aw, Kate you shouldn't be so scared of me." he said with a smirk, watching as her eyes followed the movements of the knife. He tilted his head to the side, before the smirk faded to a soft smile. "I guess the knife's a bit daunting, huh." he stood then, balancing the knife in the palm of his hand as though weighing it as he approached.

She squirmed, a small cry of distress as she tilted her head back in an effort to get further away, eyes closed tight. Tyler held his hand out, waiting until she finally opened an eye to look before he moved. She flinched, letting out a barely-there scream and turning her head away again. He laughed loudly, Kate's shoulders going rigid as she waited for an oncoming blow that she never received.

"You're too easy, doll-girl." he chuckled, slipping the blade into the back of his jeans under his dark hoodie. She slumped in the chair, staring down at her bare legs with wide disbelieving eyes. Finally she looked up, trying her best to look pleading and harmless, muffled words expressing her desire to be released. "Oh Kate, I know what you want, but I'm not letting you go that easily. See, it's all about manipulation." he murmured, kneeling down in front of her, an elbow resting on her knee as he stared up at her.

He held his hands out to show here they were empty, Kate watching him despite herself. He closed his left hand and turned the palm of his right had toward the floor. Opening the palm of his left hand, a perfectly rounded silver coin glimmered for a mere moment before he closed his fingers around it again.

"It's all about keeping the perfect balance." he said, turning his right hand up again with a flick of his wrist, the coin now held between the thumb and forefinger of the opposite hand. "If you know what you're doing, you can change everything in reality." he moved the coin with his thumb until it was balancing on the first knuckle of his forefinger. Flipping the coin over his knuckles and then back the other way, he caught her eye. "When you have everyone right where you want them, you can manipulate them, keep them in line. That _is_ the perfect balance."

Flipping the coin, he caught it again with his left hand, opening his palm and blowing over it. The coin disappeared like smoke, silver grainy wisps leaking over the sides of his hands and fading away like a watery mirage. He watched her a bit longer, scoffing and standing up. As he walked away from her, his hand removed the knife from the waistline of his jeans, wiping the flat of the blade absently across the front of his hoodie, his other hand scratching along his neck irritably as he stared at the wall.

"Reid's probably wondering…" he started, a small smile coming to his lips. "…never mind." he turned back to Kate, the dark-skinned woman whimpering and turning her head away. "Pumpkin, I've gotta disappear for a bit. I'll be back before Pogue gets here, don't worry. Be a good girl, and don't try to escape. If you injure yourself you could damage the baby."

He tossed the knife onto the end of the hotel bed, sniffling and running the back of his hand across his face in case there was any blood. He gave a cursory glance at Kate's mobile phone on the night stand, before disregarding it and walking up to Kate. Large hands framing her face, he smiled at her.

"I wish I could make you more comfortable, love. Unfortunately, because you don't trust me I don't trust you either." he said, leaning over and pressing a light kiss to the tip of her nose. She tensed, contemplating whether she should knee him while he was there, but he was already pulling back before she could consider doing so. "I'll be back when I'm back."

Kate scream, though muffled, was louder than any she'd attempted, never ending from the moment the hotel door clicked shut behind him.

* * *

**Act II**

Reid ran his hands through his hair, tugging on the ends of the strands as he looked around. His breathing was harsh and tears stung his eyes. He was lost, and Tyler was nowhere to be found. He'd die out in the freezing cold, starving and alone. That's all he was worth.

There was a lump of fear in his throat that made him sick to his stomach, that wouldn't go away, ebbing under his skin like an ever-growing cancer, spreading. He sniffled, cold air burning his nostrils, and coughed out a dry harsh sob, a tear rolling from each eye.

There was a snap, like the crackle of a breaking branch, just behind him. Whipping his head around, he caught sight of a young man with dark hair stumbling over the root of a tree. The man glanced up, dark blue eyes glazed and lips pulled into a worried smile.

"Reid? What are you doing out here?" Tyler asked, placing something on the ground in the snow and zipping his hoodie up to his collarbone to cover the chill that trembled through his skin. Reid blinked, red-rimmed moonstone eyes scanning Tyler over and over.

"Ty?" he murmured, voice raspy and toneless.

"Yeah man, I've been looking for you for almost an hour." he said, snow crunching underfoot as he strode toward the older male, enveloping him in a tight embrace. "I was worried about you. Where were you?"

"Me? Where were you? I woke up and you were gone!" Reid cried hysterically, wrapping his arms around Tyler's back, shuddering in relief when Tyler murmured quiet words in his ear and rubbed a soothing hand over his back.

"I was hunting." he said simply, Reid frowning.

"But you hate hunting." he retorted. Tyler was silent for a moment before shrugging. Reid pulled back to stare into his lover's eyes. Tyler's gaze was slightly lowered, however, not quite meeting his eyes but staring at his lips instead.

"I figured I'd get it over with. The quicker we get out of this damn forest the better, yeah?" he said, smiling slightly. Reid watched Tyler disbelievingly for a few moments before groaning and collapsing against the other man.

"I thought you'd left me." he whispered, Tyler smiling gently and helping him stand again.

"I wouldn't leave you, Reid." still, Tyler refused to look him straight in the eye. Reid, unsure, bit his lower lip hesitantly before leaning over and pressing his lips to Tyler's. The younger man's eyes fluttered closed, lips parted as Reid pulled back slowly, watching the other curiously. A slight flush came to Tyler's cheeks, and Reid let out the breath he'd been holding.

He'd been so worried; Tyler didn't seem like himself since they'd been brought together again, mood changing quick enough to give himself whiplash at times. Tyler was just as fearful of being abandoned as he was, Reid rationalised. _He must have been scared when I wasn't still at the colony house, he must have thought I'd left him._

"And I wont leave you either." Reid murmured, closing his eyes and resting his brow on Tyler's shoulder. The raven stared down at him through a sapphire gaze, though the young man's thoughts was far away.

* * *

**Act III**

Kate glared between her ringing phone and the knife on the bed. Now that Tyler was no longer anywhere near her, she was able to think clearer. If only he hadn't been right about injuring the unborn baby, then she wouldn't have had to resort to simply glaring at the blade.

For the third time, her phone stopped ringing, and the silence that fell was louder than the noise. Kate guessed she'd been on her own for about three hours now; her body had stopped trembling and had started aching instead, she was starving and she really needed to relieve herself. For the most part, her mind was still trying to process that Tyler was still alive, never mind that he'd taken her hostage after trying to cut her open.

He still remembered the first time she'd met Tyler, as one of Pogue's friends. She'd seen him around of course, and before she fell for Pogue she'd had the tiniest crush on him from a distance; he was a gorgeous young man after all, even if he didn't know her name. After seeing Pogue defend his friends, seeing past the asshole she thought he was, she'd fallen for him however, and he for her.

"_Guys, this is-"_

"_Kate, Kate Tunney." she said, cutting off her new boyfriend and smiling brightly at his friends. The blonde and the one with the dark hair and eyes snickered. The shy one with the blue eyes and dark hair stood further back, staring up at the sky as though he hadn't even noticed she'd introduced herself._

"_Yeah, this is Kate." Pogue mumbled awkwardly, face flushed red with embarrassment. She shook the hand of the boy with the dark eyes, Pogue's best friend. She smiled to herself when she felt Pogue's arm slip around her waist._

"_Caleb. Good to see someone's keeping this guy in line." he teased. _

_The blonde boy eyed her appreciatively then took her hand, raising it to his lips, a light kiss brushed across her knuckles. "Garwin, Reid Garwin." he said lowly, eyes half lidded as he smirked over the back of her hand. "And what's a pretty little thing like you doing with a dork like Po?" _

_Kate felt herself flush and gently tugged her hand back away from Pogue's friend. "A lot more than I'd do with a dork like you." she retorted, and rather than having the guts to look insulted the blonde grinned at her and then his friend. _

"_I like this one; what a catch, man." he praised, reaching over to clap Pogue over the shoulder, stepping back with his hands in his pockets. Kate's brow rose when she felt Pogue exhale in relief, knowing he was relieved more about the fact his friend's approved rather than the distance he just put between them. _

_She was shocked when the three of the boys turned to the last one, who still hadn't noticed what was going on around them, watching a hawk swooping around in the sky and chasing after a sparrow. Caleb cleared his throat, and Tyler's piercing eyes slid over._

_The hawk let out a strange cry and took off, disappearing over the tree line. _

_She shivered when she seen how sharply they turned on her, cat-like eyes narrowed and staring straight into her as though assessing her from the inside out, and for a moment she thought he was the leader of their little group and that he disapproved. Finally, that gaze softened and he smiled so softly, so warmly in contrast to the previous look he'd given her, that she wondered if maybe he had a personality disorder. _

"_Hey, it's Kate right? You're in my Bio class, yeah?" he asked her directly, and she found herself nodding wordlessly. He tucked his hands into his jacket pockets, tilting his head to the side like a curious puppy. He didn't look her up and down like Reid did, nor did he stare through her respectfully like Caleb, rather he stared straight into her eyes, reading down deeper than the others dared to go. _

"_Uh…yeah…" she murmured when he didn't say anything else, and for the first time in a long time she couldn't think of anything to say._

"_This is Tyler." Caleb said finally, glancing between the two. Tyler blinked several times, head tilting to the other side as he scanned her face as though imprinting every detail in his mind. _

"_Simms." Tyler added slowly. Just as Kate thought he was going to say something else, he turned around and walked away. Reid gave the others a confused look, mouthing a barely audible 'o-kay…' before half turning to chase after his friend. He gave the other two a mock salute._

"_I'll, uh, see you two …three… at Nicky's?" he asked, not even waiting for an answer before he followed the younger raven. Kate blinked in wonder after the two, running the brief conversation over in her mind. Had she said something to offend him?_

"_Sorry bout Ty." Pogue said finally. "Baby boy's a little odd lately. We think something's bugging him, but we don't know what." _

"_Does he do that often?"_

"_Well…not that particularly. It's just little things that seem a bit…strange. Even for him." Caleb added, smiling reassuringly. "Don't worry, if anyone can get through to him it'll be Reid. Those two are as different as the sun and the moon, but it's a package deal nonetheless."_

_Kate barely heard what Pogue said next. Instead she found her eyes scanning the sky where the hawk had returned, swooping in for a kill as a daring sparrow darted beneath it. From that day on, whenever she saw a hawk, it would remind her of Tyler, with it's ability to appear beautiful but still turn deadly in the blink of an eye. _

Kate huffed to herself. _And right now, I feel kinda like that poor sparrow_, she thought for no particular reason, glancing around the room and silently praying that Pogue would come to her rescue.

She glanced down at her own stomach, envisioning the child that was growing there, that would one day be placed in her arms, tiny pink fingers curling up at her and barely opening eyes staring straight up at her. She'd be the first thing her child sees, and he was going to see her no matter what.

_Uncle Ty wont hurt us. I'm sure of it,_ she thought.

Still, she could still remember the first time he'd looked directly at her. His eyes, sharp as scalpels, dissecting her piece by piece and turning her inside out with that single first glance.

Maybe…

…it was just a tiny possibility…

…but could Tyler have n_ever_ been alright?

_We'll be alright, I'm…almost sure of it._

A _really_ tiny possibility.

* * *

**Act IV**

Tyler moved quicker than Reid thought he could have, hand swiping out and grabbing the blonde's elbow and keeping him on his feet as his ankle gave way. Reid stared down at the jagged rocks that he would have otherwise landed on. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Tyler said, uncharacteristically blunt. Reid frowned, about to reach out and touch Tyler's shoulder, but he hesitated. Tyler spun around suddenly, slamming Reid's body back against the thick trunk of a nearby tree, a warm hand pressed over the other's mouth. "Shh…" Tyler whispered, pressing a finger to his own lips. The finger moved, pointing through the trees at something.

For a moment, Reid could only stare at the intense focus in the younger man's deep blue eyes, before finally turning his own to try and glimpse what had caught his lover's attention. For a moment, Reid couldn't see anything, but then he caught sight of it. There was someone there, moving.

It was then he realized that Tyler's hand was covering both his mouth and nose, stopping him from breathing. He attempted to knock it away, but froze at Tyler's glare and glanced back over at the figure moving through the trees.

He couldn't see from the angle he was on, but Tyler seemed to recognize whoever it was. "I'm going to check it out. Stay here, or I swear to god you'll regret it." the younger man hissed. Reid couldn't quite explain the chunk of ice that had become of his heart, frowning slightly.

Tyler's hand slid from his mouth, and Reid barely managed to take a small breath before the raven pressed a hard kiss to his lips. The blonde would have melted into it if it weren't for the darkness that bled into his vision.

Waking up was a blur.

A sticky, watery blur.

There was a gentle amused cackle of flames to one side, and the gentle tracing of fingertips over his cheek to the other. He blinked several times before he realised the darkness wasn't going to clear, seeing as it was indeed nightfall and the white speckles that refused to disappear were actually stars.

"Wh're err we?" he mumbled, contemplating turning on his side to relieve the numbness. Would he turn toward the fire, toward the heat? Or toward the gentle caress he knew could only be coming from his lover's gentle hands.

"Not to far from the Danvers, now." Reid turned his head to stare up silently at his lover. There was a smile on the young man's lips, but the darkness in those eyes and the glimmer of something in them Reid couldn't recognize were enough to have the blonde shuddering. He told himself it was because of the cold.

"What 'appened?"

"I put a spell on you." Tyler answered honestly, the smile disappearing to be replaced with a frown. "Don't look at me like that. You would have followed me if I didn't."

"Why? What are you hiding?" Reid heard himself ask, before he had even processed he'd looked at Tyler in a different way. There was a sudden sting to the side of his face, and Reid was shocked to realize that it had been a slap.

"Don't talk to me like that." Tyler snapped, standing and dusting himself off. Reid pulled himself up onto his knees, watching as the younger man turned his back and walked away from him, a hand gently touching his cheek. It wasn't tender, and he'd hardly noticed the sting, but it had been quick enough that he hadn't even seen it coming, quick enough for the shock to still hover stagnant in his mind.

Tyler had struck him.

_Tyler_ had _struck _him.

"What the hell's going on with you?" Reid asked, relieved to hear that he'd managed to hide the hurt from bleeding into his voice.

"None of your business, Reid." Tyler sneered, leaning back against a tree, arms and ankles crossed, eyes closed. Reid noticed the gentle crease of his lover's brow, as though he were concentrating on something or he were in pain.

"Baby boy." Reid tried, ignoring the twitch of the raven's dark brow. "Tyler!"

"Fuck off, Reid." Tyler said finally, eyes black with anger as he tipped his head up again. It was then Reid noticed the cuts, the grazes. There was a still bleeding graze above the younger man's brow, and a tiny slice on the opposite cheekbone, not to mention the eye was surrounded by a dark ring, and there appeared to be a dark red burn on his chin. "I'm going for a walk; I'll be back later."

Reid's mouth opened to protest, but no words came out. Who the hell had Tyler run into while he'd been unconscious?

There was a slight pinch on his left ring finger, and he glanced back down. He noticed the silver ring that had once belonged to Tyler, the washed-out green gem glittering in the light from the flames a few feet to the side. He'd forgotten about it.

The pinch tingled up his arm, a sensation he'd felt before when the charmed ring picked up someone's feelings, but the tingling stopped before he had a chance to detect what the emotion had been. The pinch disappeared, and Reid twisted the ring around on his finger several times in a half-hearted to erase the unwanted sensation.

His cheek continued to burn, and his eyes followed Tyler's form as it disappeared into the darkness of the forest. He'd wanted to call out, ask if the other knew where he was going, be sure he was going to return, but once again no words left his lips.

Still, one thing continued to echo through his memory.

Did Tyler _really _just lash out at him?

* * *

**Act V**

"Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes?" Kate had meant to say. Through the gag, which she chewed on unpleasantly, desperately trying time and time again to grind her teeth around behind it and free her jaws, it sounded more like "Wewa ooh ah ie'fuh owai."

She wasn't too surprised when Tyler laughed, as cruel and cold sounding as it was. She rolled her eyes, but found herself scanning the young man from head to toe, only just now realizing how injured he actually seemed to be since he'd walked out of the room hours ago.

She berated herself for caring.

Tyler's eyes pierced through her, but it wasn't the same as it had been that first time, instead it seemed almost hateful for a moment. His eyes softened and a faint smile fell over his lips. Reassuring expressions aside, she flinched when he reached for her face. She wasn't sure whether she should be more surprised about the fact he didn't hit her, or the fact he removed the gag instead.

"I bet that feels better." he soothed, tapping the pads of his fingers lightly against her cheek before standing up.

"How do you know I wont scream?" Kate jibed, still trying to work some feeling back into her jaw. Tyler continued to stare down at her, and she inwardly flinched at her own cockiness and stupidity. However, he just shrugged and raised his brow at her.

"Because you don't want to die before your son is born."

"Well, that's true." Kate murmured to herself. She hardened her own gaze and stared up at him. "What do you want, really."

"You're the most powerful piece to the puzzle. You're the one who's going to make it all happen, doll girl. I told you earlier that this is all about manipulation. I have you, and suddenly" he said, snapping his fingers, "I have Pogue. Pogue won't go after Caleb now that he knows I have you; you're more important. You're the prize."

"You've been alive all this time while we believed you were dead, and all you can think about is keeping Pogue from making a truce with Caleb?"

"Who said Caleb planned on a truce?" Tyler pointed out nonchalantly. Kate eyed him warily. "You know all about their little affair, about Pogue letting Caleb fuck him." Tyler spat the words out, sneering all the while. Kate cringed, the memory still powerfully strong in the front of her mind. "I hate Caleb, for what he's done to me, and Reid, and everyone else."

"What's this got to do with Pogue?"

"Everything, love." Tyler said, voice softening and reaching up to brush her hair away from her face. "Caleb thinks he owns Reid, and look at the devastation that caused. Now, he thinks he owns Pogue, and he'd rather kill him than let him father your child. And guess who'd be on his list once Pogue was out of the way." Kate cringed, but Tyler continued. "He'd rip that baby out of your stomach with his bare hands. He'd make you watch with your dying moments as he destroyed it in front of your eyes."

Kate turned away from the young man, glaring at a patch of carpet to the other side. She felt her stomach twist, queasy, and she knew she'd paled considerably for her dark skin. "Why'd you try and cut me open?" she hissed.

Tyler shrugged. "I planned on killing you. As I said, I've always been fond of you. Killing you would have been difficult, believe me. It's not everyone I can say that about." he tilted his head to the side when Kate returned her gaze to him. He smiled, pressing an affectionately gentle feather of a kiss to her lips and standing up. "Pogue loves you, and I don't plan on killing either of you. I want the two of you to get away, let Reid and I take care of Caleb."

"What do you plan on doing to him?"

"We're gonna kill him, what else?" Kate laughed mirthlessly, craning her neck back and resting her head against the back of the chair.

"I should just scream." she said to herself. Tyler ignored her.

"I wonder where Pogue is. He could have been here by now if he'd used." the warlock pointed out, and Kate felt as though she'd have slapped a hand to her own forehead if her wrists weren't bound behind her.

All the years these boys have had powers and yet how often did they forget they could use them?

When Kate didn't comment, Tyler sighed and searched the room for anything that was amiss. Finding nothing, he turned to the young woman and grinned, that same cold grin that had Kate trembling under her skin.

"You wanna know a secret?"

Kate swallowed, unsure if she should answer. "Uh…what kind of secret."

"An important one." Kate figured that when a crazy warlock with powers she couldn't even dream of having took her hostage, then told her he had something important to tell her, that she should listen even if she didn't really want to.

"Alright." she murmured, feeling a sick sensation fall like sediment in the base of her stomach.

"When Pogue finds you, I wont be here and you'll be free to leave. I want you to go to the old Putnam barn, and open the old cellar trap door. It's still there. Inside, you'll find a surprise. When you do, everything will make sense. If you don't do as I say, you'll regret the consequences for the rest of your life." he said seriously. Kate nodded, swallowing the stale taste of saliva in her mouth. "You understand?"

"Yeah, I understand."

He smiled widely at her. "Good girl."

* * *

**Act VI**

Evelyn wasn't sure how many drinks she'd consumed, but it was enough. Her feet weren't beneath her anymore, they were somewhere behind her, and she was suddenly a lot closer to the ground than she'd been before. Oh, that was because she was _on_ the ground. Now she understood.

Vertigo; can't live with it, can't…well, she was sure she could live _without_ it.

Caleb was pacing, which only proceeded to make her dizzier than she'd been before. She had half a mind to tell him to cut it out, but every time she opened her mouth to say those very words, she tasted bile on the tip of her tongue and her mind flashed with images of the bleeding Isadora McQueen, the branch cousin from the Simms family.

She hadn't come to terms with the fact she'd killed a girl. After her son had revealed who she was, memories of times she'd met the girl were coming back. The girl had always been at Tyler's birthday parties.

Oh…Tyler…

The first moment she'd found out about the youngest son's death, she'd mourned him for probably longer than she'd thought she would. At least, until her own son's secrets had started coming out. And soon enough, her affection for Tyler became a distant plague on her mind and her own son's venomous thoughts consumed her.

Tyler had taken what was Caleb's. Tyler was in Caleb's way. Tyler was a useless member to the Covenant.

And when she'd found out Tyler was alive, her own son not saying much at all about him, she'd secretly rejoiced at the fear in Caleb's eyes. Why, she wasn't sure. Perhaps it was because she was certain that Reid and Tyler were an unbreakable unit. And, like most, she'd seen a match between the two that she'd never seen anywhere else.

She knew her son had been hot-headed about what he'd wanted since birth, somewhat spoilt if she was honest. And since his father willed his power, Caleb had become especially obsessed with the blonde. Before he'd ascended twice over in one night, Caleb had been the perfect brother to the three younger boys, and Evelyn knew just how much Tyler had loved Caleb in that aspect, admired him almost as much.

But she also knew something darker about Reid, something concerning his childhood she'd never wanted to mention ever again.

She sat up from her position on the floor, glanced over at the picture on the lamp table of her now deceased husband, William, and turned away in disgust. Caleb was becoming just like his father.

Reid was never going to survive this unless he was with Tyler; Tyler alone could pull him through.

Evelyn glared over at her pacing son. She knew Caleb had done something to her to make her kill that girl, but she couldn't figure out what it could possibly be.

But still, looking at the smooth planes of his beautiful face, and the dark radiance of his eyes, she could see a bit of William in him. The good side of William, before he'd ascended. If only it was the larger part, then she wouldn't feel so guilty about loving her son enough to turn her back on the rest of the Covenant for him.

Caleb continued to pace, and Evelyn continued to watch, silently counting down the sands of time before he made his next move.

* * *

**A/N: **Shorter chapter, but only because I couldn't write another act without revealing something that had to wait until next chapter. I know this is a total cliff-hanger without ropes to keep holding on, but I absolutely love writing them. It keeps readers interested (or irritated, either one's good).  
So anyway, if something's confusing you feel free to mention it and I'll do my best to explain it (unless of course it would spoil the rest of the story for you)  
**On another note**, if you don't already watch the television show **'Supernatural'** then I suggest you start. It's about the only television show I'd ever recommend watching, seriously. (I totally adore Castiel, by the way)

**Next chapter coming soon.**  
**Love,**  
**MK**


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